Lazel Song-Drabbles
by DemigodGleek
Summary: A collection of (mostly) fluffy song-drabbles about Lazel! :) Sorry for grammar or/and spell errors! Hope you'll like it, please review :'D
1. Drabble 1 I Won't Give Up

**_HELLO EVERYBODY! :D_**

**_Maybe some of you know me for my Lazel-fanfiction "Too Complicated" that was finished not-that-long ago ;) But after writing such a long story, I wanted to relax and just write some cute little Lazel-drabbles :) It's actually going to be song-drabbles! You don't need to listen to the song, but I recommend it._**

**_Reviews are much appreciated. Thanks for reading!_**

**I Won't Give Up – Jason Mraz**

_LEO_

The moon threw a silver light on the ship's deck. Starts were dotted on the night sky, shining brightly and blinking innocently.

Leo was sitting on the floor with Hazel's head in his lap. He twirled her cinnamon curls and drew his fingers through his hair, while Hazel was staring at the sky in awe.

"How many stars do you think there is?" She asked slowly.

Leo thought for a moment.

"I don't think you can count them. The universe expands all the time, so that would mean new stars are made, like, every second. And then some of them die too. So it changes all the time."

Hazel shot him an annoyed look.

"Don't start with the science." She said amusedly. "What do you _really_ think?"

Leo locked eyes with her, her golden ones staring right through his soul, and he almost chuckled.

"More than you can count." He said simply.

Hazel didn't say anything else. She returned her gaze to the sky with a thoughtful expression on her pretty face.

"Do you think any star actually has fallen to the earth?"

"Yes. You." Leo said quietly and pecked her lips. Hazel rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a star."

"Of course you are! You have this light around you, like you shine, and I still think you're too amazing to be human. Or demigod."

"You tell the daughter of the god of the Underworld that she _shines_?"

"But you do." Leo protested. "I don't care who your dad is. You're still a star – _my _star."

Hazel looked at him with a glint in her eyes.

"And why am I a star?"

This was his chance. He cleared his throat, going through the words he had practiced.

"Because your eyes shine just as bright as the stars. Your hair is just as soft as the light they spread, and your beauty burn just like the they burn with fire. And your personality is too amazing to be from this world full of cruelness. You're just like a star; shining and spreading your light, but too far away to reach. I don't know how I got you."

Hazel stared up at him for a while, eyebrow raised and eyes knowing. Leo cringed.

"What did you quote?"

"Um... Nothing?" Worth a try.

Hazel rolled her eyes and nudged him, but she had an amused twinkle in her eyes.

"Wow, isn't my boyfriend romantic."

"Oh, shut up." Leo said and kissed her.

**_Pretty short, and I'm not that satisfied, but it'll do. Next one comes later! Thanks for reading and please review! :)_**


	2. Drabble 2 Silly Love Songs

**_Thanks for all the kind words! :) _**

**Silly Love Songs – Paul McCartney**

_HAZEL_

Hazel was eating a peaceful dinner when somebody suddenly yelled her name.

"Get Levesque _now_!"

It was Octavian's shrill voice, and a second later, Dakota had gripped her shoulder and led her right to the gates to the camp.

It was one of the most bizarre scenes Hazel had ever seen. Campers, ghosts and fauns were standing and staring at something at the other side of the river. Octavian's eyes narrowed when he spotted her.

"Explain why there's a _Greek _demigod standing at the other side of our river, asking for _you_?!"

Hazel shrugged Dakota's hand off her shoulder and made her way through the crowd of people, to the river bank. She gasped when she saw who was standing on the other side of the river.

"_Leo_?!" She shouted. "What are you doing here?!"

Leo was holding a bouquet of red roses and a brown bag. He had a bleeding cut over his left eye, his shirt was tattered and smoking and his jeans was ripped at the knees. But Leo was grinning like a madman, obviously not aware of how strange he looked. The two demigods who had been on guarding duty stood behind him, looking really confused.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" He yelled happily and raised the bouquet. "Now, how do I get over to the other side?"

Octavian was looking back and forth between Hazel and Leo. His face was red.

"You're not going to come to our side!" He shouted at Leo. "This is a camp for Roman demigods, not Greeks like _you._"

Reyna looked at Hazel.

"I thought I scheduled all the meetings between the demigods with Chiron when you came back from the quest?"

Hazel shifted on her feet. That was true. Since they flew to Greece with the _Argo II_ and closed the Doors of Death, the demigods of the both camps got to meet a week every month. They called it "visit-weeks", and it wasn't one right now. The children of Vulcan and Hephaestus had together constructed some kind of transporter that could transport the demigods between the camps, so they wouldn't need to travel over the whole country to visit each other. The transporter was effective, and it only took seconds to reach the other camp, but they were closed when it wasn't visit-week.

Then, suddenly, Hazel heard a voice behind her:

"Hey, what's happening here?"

Jason pushed himself through the crowd, to Hazel's side. He looked confused, but his face lit up when he saw Leo. He grinned and waved.

"Leo! Man, what are you_ doing_ here? I thought visit-week was two weeks ago?"

Leo grinned and waved back.

"It's Valentine's Day, and I wanted to give these to Hazel!"

Some of the girls behind Hazel sighed wistfully and "Awww"ed, but Hazel just felt confused and worried.

Octavian looked even more agitated. He squinted to see Leo more clearly, and realization dawned on his face.

"That's the Valdez boy that fired the ballistae and set our camp on fire!" He yelled and pointed at Leo. "We're _not_ letting him in to the camp!"

Jason rolled his eyes.

"How many times do we have to tell you, Octavian, that it wasn't Leo? It was the Eidolons."

"How do we know you speak the truth?" Octavian asked and narrowed his eyes.

Hazel stepped closer to the river, cupped her mouth and screamed:

"Leo, how did you even get here?!"

Leo seemed to be shrugging.

"Took the train. It took _very _long time, but here I am!" He said happily. "Had to fight some monsters, but I'm still alive. Can I get over now?"

Hazel shook her head, but a smile played on her lips. He had come all this way for _her_, to give her some flowers. She always had thought Valentine's Day was a joke, but this was really cute.

She turned to Reyna.

"He's not a threat." Hazel said. "Can't you please let him in?"

Reyna looked a little conflicted, but before she could say anything, Octavian started to protest loudly.

"We don't know if we can trust him! He can be a spy from Camp Half-Blood. Besides, we can't get him over the river anyway!"

"Octavian has a point." Reyna admitted. "He could be a spy. And we can't get him over."

Hazel opened her mouth to protest, but Jason cut her off.

"I can fly you over there. So you can talk to him alone. That way, we don't need to let him in to the camp either." He added and looked at Reyna.

Reyna smiled a little.

"Sounds good to me. Everybody, go back to your activities!"

Octavian opened his mouth to protest, but Reyna shot him a dangerously dark look. He left, looking very angry.

Jason placed an arm around Hazel's waist, smiled to her and then ordered the winds to lift them up in the air. Hazel closed her eyes. She didn't like flying that much.

A moment later, she was on the other side of the river. Jason told the demigods that should guard the camp to go back to their duty, and then turned to Leo with a huge grin.

"Hey, man! You should have Iris Messaged us and said that you were coming."

"And ruined the surprise? Never." Leo snorted. "But it was a long way here. I'm _so _tired."

Hazel walked to Leo and hugged him.

"I'm going to leave you two alone." Jason said, a little uncomfortably. "I'll come in fifteen minutes. Okay?"

Leo made thumbs up, and Jason flew back over the river to shoo away a few demigods that was standing by the river bank and looking at them.

"What are you doing here, dork?" Hazel said with a smile.

He grinned and sat down on the ground, gesturing for Hazel to do the same.

"I wanted to surprise my girlfriend on Valentine's Day, of course." He leaned in and kissed Hazel, soft and sweet. When Leo pulled away, he gave her the bouquet.

"Thank you." Hazel said and buried her nose in the roses. "They smell wonderful."

Leo shrugged.

"Apparently that's what people give their partners on Valentine's Day. I asked Piper without revealing that I was coming here, so she gave me some tips."

Hazel laughed.

"And," Leo said and showed her the brown bag, "I have some gifts for you!"

He pulled out a red, heart-shaped box and a smaller box with a logo on it. He grinned goofily as he handed them to Hazel.

"The first one is chocolate." Leo explained as Hazel opened the heart-shaped box. "Piper's idea. And the other one is… Well, look."

Hazel opened the box to see some kind of food. It was golden browned, crispy pieces of something she never had seen before. But Leo grinned widely.

"It's chicken nuggets!" He said happily. "Do you remember on the _Argo II_? When you asked me what a chicken nugget was? We weren't dating back then. Someone interrupted me so I never got to tell you what a chicken nugget was, so here you are."

Hazel stared at the chicken nuggets, worrying Leo. He cleared his throat and added:

"I know it's not something you usually give your girlfriend on Valentine's Day, but I just thought…"

"I love it." Hazel interrupted and turned to Leo with a smile. "It's so cute that you remembered that."

Leo's cheeks turned bright red, and Hazel wondered worryingly if he was going to catch fire.

"Thank you." She whispered and kissed him.

When they pulled away, they heard a shriek from the other side of the river. A few girls were standing there, pointing and squealing over Leo and Hazel's kiss.

"Should I shoot a column of fire at them?" Leo wondered.

Hazel nudged him, but laughed.

"Just ignore them."

They sat together and just talked for a while, shared a few more kisses and ate the chocolate and chicken nuggets. Hazel found the new food surprisingly tasty, but it didn't go too well with the chocolate.

Hazel leaned her head on Leo's shoulder.

"I've missed you." She said quietly as Leo stroke her head.

"I know. Everybody miss Leo Valdez." Leo joked.

"_Leo_."

Suddenly, there was a _swisch!_ and Jason was standing in front of them.

"Are you done yet, lovebirds?" He asked with a crooked grin.

Leo rolled his eyes.

"I don't ask _you _that when you and Piper are making out."

Jason blushed a little.

"How is she, by the way?" He asked. "I feel bad for not sending her any Valentine's Day-gift."

"She's doing fine, but she won't stop talking about you. It's worse than you actually being there." Leo said and grinned. "And you really should send her something, she seemed a little gloomy. I can take it with me when I leave."

"Great." Jason said and smiled. "Reyna talked to Chiron. He knows that you're here now, and they have turned the transporters on so you don't need to travel across the country again."

Leo groaned.

"Piper is going to kill me."

Hazel smiled a little.

"And Chiron?" She asked teasingly.

"No." Leo said and shook his head. "Piper will try to kill me, and then Nyssa will join her. And then Chiron's gonna tell my corpse that I did wrong and that I'm not allowed to eat dessert for a month or something."

"Hey." Jason said warningly. "That's my girlfriend you're talking about. Piper won't kill you."

Leo rolled his eyes.

"You don't know how she is when you're not around."

Hazel cut the boys off.

"It doesn't matter." She said. "Jason, will you fly both of us over to the other side at the same time…?"

"No, it's too heavy. I'll take Leo first, and then come back and take you."

Hazel quickly pecked Leo's lips.

"Thanks for the gifts." She said.

"No problem." Leo grinned. "I mean, they weren't expensive at all. And not so hard to find either; I bought the chicken nuggets on McDonalds and I paid some Aphrodite-kids to give me flowers and chocolate."

Jason and Hazel rolled their eyes.

"You're _so_ romantic." Hazel said ironically.

**_Hope you liked it! :D Please review!_**


	3. Drabble 3 Big Girls Don't Cry

**_Thank you for the reviews! It mean everything to me that you like my writing :D_**

**Big Girls Don't Cry – Fergie**

_HAZEL _

She really wished it wasn't that hard.

Hazel didn't want to let go. She wanted to stay, stay and never go back. She wanted to stay on the _Argo II_, she wanted to keep sneaking out from her cabin and meet Leo on deck, she wanted to keep their romance like that.

It had been some rough times, too. Breaking up with Frank to be with Leo, for example. But all those things faded away in her head as she realized that the good things, the _amazing _things, suddenly would stop happening. It was like all the bad memories were on a train that slowly drifted off. She had jumped off that train. She was on the happy train now, the nice, cozy, loving train that was going to stop someday but still let the passengers hope that it never would happen.

But now it had.

It had stopped, and suddenly reality hit them. A reality where Hazel had to go back to Camp Jupiter and probably never see her love again.

Reyna didn't use to be this harsh. She knew what love was; she _was _in love. But she was too bitter since her love wasn't returned (since Jason was with Piper) to want to help them. And for once, she had listened to Octavian and accepted his demand; send the demigods back to their own camps and never let them see each other again.

They had one last night. Just one. Leo and Hazel were lying on their backs on the _Argo II_'s deck. All the demigods from the quest had somehow convinced Reyna that they would get to spend one last night together, on the ship, without anyone interrupting.

Percy and Annabeth were sad, but they at least would be together. Piper was devastated, and Jason very angry. Frank didn't really care; not since Hazel broke his heart. Nico was angry because Chiron tried to restrain him; telling him he was a Greek demigod and belonged in Camp Half-Blood when everybody, including himself, knew it wasn't true.

Hazel closed her eyes and tried to ignore the tears burning behind her eyelids.

"You know that I love you, right?" She whispered.

She couldn't see Leo's face, but he gripped her hand.

"I… I love you too." Leo said. "But this isn't the end. We'll meet each other. I'll build a new ship and wake Gaea again if that's what it takes to get to see you again."

A watery laugh slipped Hazel. She clasped Leo's hand harder.

Hazel hurt. Every inch of her hurt, every fiber in her body hurt, everything hurt. And it was because of all those memories; the ones she had made with Leo was blurring together with those she had with Sammy, and it hurt more, because it was all just a blur of happiness that ended in pain.

"It's all just so stupid." She said, sobbing. "I lost Sammy, but it was for the greater good. Now, I'm losing you, and it's just because Reyna is angry."

Leo hesitated.

"You're not gonna lose me, Hazel. We'll meet again, I promise."

Hazel sobbed again.

"It was all so happy and nice and just… With both you and him. I felt so happy, so at home, and the stupid thing was that it didn't occur to me once that it could end this horribly… And it's all so blurry now, it melts together, because it was exactly the same; happiness and then pain. I walked down this road with Sammy once, dragging him with me to the darkness of the pain of losing someone, and now I dragged you with me too. And I didn't even recognize that I was walking down the exact same road, because I was so lost in the love and happiness you gave me."

Leo didn't say anything, and Hazel was grateful for that. She knew he didn't like to talk about Sammy, but he never complained. But now, he knew she needed to talk this out, and he knew that everything he could do was to listen, because there were no words that could comfort her.

"It felt like a fairytale. So nice, so happy, so amazing. But it wasn't a fairytale; it was a lie, a cruel _lie_."

There was a moment of absolute silence between them, but then Leo whispered:

"It was a fairytale. I don't regret anything. It was just like what I wanted it to be."

Hazel turned her head and watched him carefully. Leo was staring up at the night sky, his eyes reflecting the light from the moon and the stars, his skin looking perfect and soft in the faint moonlight.

"Fairytales don't always have a happy ending, do they?" A voice said behind them.

Hazel and Leo sat up to see Percy and Annabeth. Hazel rose to her feet and walked over to hug them both. Leo did the same.

"Leo's right. It was a fairytale. It just didn't have a happy ending." Jason and Piper appeared, holding hands.

"I liked it anyway." Frank said. He looked a little grim as he walked over to them.

They hugged each other, holding tight, knowing that this maybe was the last time,

"Well, we saved the world." Nico's voice suddenly said. He stepped to them, looking at the stars. "That's a kind of happy ending anyway. For the rest of the world. But this, this is the last, unwritten part of the story, the part the author kept to himself."

"Not because he had to, but because no one else needed to read it." Annabeth said and raised her head to watch the stars too. "No one else needed to feel this pain. It wasn't necessary."

"And even if this part maybe is the most real of the whole story, it's still the most unreal. It's the whole story in a last chapter, an epilogue." Piper continued.

Jason nodded.

"All the love, pain, happiness, sadness, anger, bitterness… It's here. In this."

"There's no good story that have a good ending." Frank grumbled.

"Because no one wants a good story to end at all." Leo said quietly.

They were all looking up at the sky now, taking in the star and the endless sky. Without realizing it, they stood in a circle, holding hands. Only Hazel wasn't holding anyone.

Then she looked up at the sky too with twinkling eyes.

"It's still a fairytale. _Our_ fairytale."

And she took Leo and Nico's hands. They all gazed up at the sky, and they felt it; the unity, the bond between them all.

Because even if their fairytale's unwritten ending hadn't ended like they wanted it to, it was the closest to perfect they could come.

**_Short, sweet (?), and not just Lazel. I hope you liked it :) _**


	4. Drabble 4 Give Your Heart A Break

**_OMG I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. Thanks for the reviews!_**

**Give Your Heart A Break – Demi Lovato**

_LEO_

Leo loved the night. He liked the darkness of it. Not because he loved the dark, but he didn't like the light. It got him thinking of fire, and fire…

He sighed.

It was hard not to break down. He had this horrible, huge quest in front of him, this prophecy that said that he maybe would set the world on fire, and he was _alone. _Leo hated to admit it, but it was true.

Sure, his friends and siblings were around him all the time. All the Hephaestus-kids helped with the _Argo II. _But no one of them worked the whole nights with the ship, no one of them did everything they could to keep their mind of something, no one of them worked so much that their hands were literally bleeding in the morning.

All this for the greater good. All this to keep the world, his friends, his _home_, safe.

But mostly to forget.

Leo did everything to kill the little flame of hope in his chest, the one that said that maybe, _maybe _his mother could find a way back through the Doors of Death. He knew that it wouldn't happen, he knew it and he always had, she was gone and he was left. From the moment his eight-year old hands had caught fire, he knew it was over.

It hurt to hope, because Leo knew that it would end with his hopes getting smashed down. Him getting crushed. And he was pretty sure he wouldn't survive another heartbreak.

_Leo._

Leo's head snapped up. As far as he knew, he was alone in Bunker 9. His siblings had left to go to sleep a long time ago. He was still working, like every night. He hadn't slept in a week. Maybe it was just his imagination playing with him.

But then the only lightsource, an old lamp on the table where Leo was working, flickered and died. Leo wasn't afraid of the dark, but he still felt his skin tingle with fear and worry.

_Leo._

He could hear the voice much clearer now; a female voice, probably of a girl in his age. It was warm and soft, and when Leo turned, he was met by an astonishing sight.

A girl was standing by the ship. She was some kind of a ghost, but she didn't seem scary. She was glowing with a warm, bright light and smiling widely.

The girl's skin was chocolate-colored and her eyes golden. Her hair was curly, even frizzy, in a shade of cinnamon. She was floating about an inch over the ground.

"W-Who are you?" Leo asked nervously, concerned about if he was hallucinating.

_I'm from Camp Jupiter. My name is Hazel._

Hazel didn't really _speak. _Well, she opened her mouth and said the words, but her voice seemed to be in Leo's head.

Leo frowned.

"Camp Jupiter? That's the Roman camp Jason comes from, right?"

The ghost-girl laughed; a beautiful, clear sound that made Leo's chest feel warm.

_I'm one of Jason's friends. I'm also one of the seven in the prophecy. We'll meet soon._

"We're meeting right now." Leo pointed out, but Hazel shook her head with a small smile. She was really pretty.

_This isn't really me. Just an echo. I didn't come her consciously; my soul desired to talk to you and now I'm here. No one of us is going to remember this as soon as I'm gone._

"So… I'm hallucinating."

Hazel sighed.

_Just listen. _

There was something in the way she spoke that reminded him of those old movies his mother had loved to watch so much before she died.

Leo decided it had to be a dream. Even though he had been through some pretty weird stuff, this just sounded too absurd. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to listen; demigod dreams could be important.

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?" Leo asked.

_It wasn't your fault. _

Leo's face fell. He didn't need to ask her what she was talking about. And if it had been any one else that told him that, he would just ignored them. But Hazel's voice was so sincere, so warm and soft, like she actually _cared._

He bit his lip.

"It was."

_No. _Hazel floated closer. _Why would you think that?_

"Because Gaea wouldn't have woke up at all if Medea hadn't warned her about _me_." Leo snapped. "And if I Gaea hadn't come, I would never have started the fire, and she'd still be alive!"

Hazel floated back with a sad expression. Leo felt a pang of guilt in his stomach.

"I didn't mean to scream at you."

_It's not that. You blame yourself for something you couldn't control._

Leo laughed sarcastically.

"Yeah. I had _nothing _to do with it at all. No, it wasn't me that made Gaea come. It wasn't me that started the fire. _Who would it be otherwise?!"_

Hazel smiled sadly.

_You can't blame yourself for being one of the seven. You couldn't control that._

"But I could have avoided starting the stupid fire!" Leo said angrily. He was trembling.

_How would you save her otherwise? You were young. You didn't know, _Hazel said softly.

"Yeah, well, I should have figured out some other way that didn't get the one I tried to save _killed._ And being young is not a reason to be stupid."

_It certainly isn't, _she agreed. _But you still didn't know. _

Leo was shaking, and he didn't know if it was anger or sadness or guilt. All three of them, maybe. He just knew that this girl was bringing back horrible memories he had tried to forget for the past seven years. He couldn't let them back in to his head. He just couldn't.

"Leave." Leo said through gritted teeth. "Leave me alone. This isn't any of your business."

Hazel's eyes were sad, and Leo felt a little mean. Well, very mean. She was just trying to help him.

But her help just made him feel worse.

_It will be my business. _

For a moment, confusion replaced Leo's anger. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why?"

Now, Hazel smiled for real. She had a wistful look in her eyes.

_You'll see. We'll… Bond. _

"Can you just leave anyway?" Leo asked tiredly.

She took a deep breath.

_It's not your fault that the Fates included you in this quest. It's not your fault that it got your mother killed. It's not your fault that you're so humble that you feel guilty for something that wasn't your fault. It's not your fault that your heart has been shattered to pieces._

Leo opened his mouth to protest, but Hazel shook her head.

_And it's not your fault that you're looking for someone to blame, and are too nice to want to blame anyone else than yourself. _

And when she spoke those words, all pain drained out of Leo. He was crying, and he didn't even know when he had started. Hazel floated to him and wrapped her arms (which was glowing and shouldn't have been solid since she was a ghost) around him and pulled him close. Leo sniffled and sobbed in to her shoulder, until it was all gone; the pain, the sadness, the guilt and all his energy too.

He pulled away and smiled watery.

"How did you do that?"

Hazel smiled warmly.

_Did it work?_

Leo nodded, and wiped his face with the back of his hand. Hazel looked happy.

_I have to go. I've done my part, for now._

"Wait." Leo said suddenly. "You said we'll both forget this as soon as you're gone. But then I'll go back to feeling that horrible?"

Hazel laughed softly and pressed her lips on his cheek.

_You'll feel much better. You let me heal your heart a little, and even if it won't remain in your memory, your heart will still feel better. And we'll meet again, and I will just make it even better._

Leo nodded.

"Do you have to go now?" He asked. "Can't you… Stay?"

Hazel looked a little wistful, but smiled kindly.

_We'll meet again. And even if we have to go through some difficulties, we'll be there for each other. Now, I suggest you get some sleep, Leo._

And the light around her slowly started to fade. She became more and more transparent, until she was gone.

As she slowly disappeared, the memories of her did too. Leo blinked. His gaze flickered back to the table with his work. His lamp had started to work again.

"I'll work more tomorrow." He mumbled and left.

**_This one was short. I hope you liked it anyway! And feel free to request songs if you want to! :)_**


	5. Drabble 5 Eyes Open

**Eyes Open – Taylor Swift**

_HAZEL_

"They're watching us." Annabeth reminded them. "We split up. Piper and me, Percy and Nico, Jason and Frank, Hazel and Leo. Iris Message Coach Hedge if it's a huge emergency, so he can fly the ship there."

Everybody nodded. Leo grinned to Hazel. Her chest literally hurt when she saw him, because she saw _Sammy_, and it was just so wrong that she actually was falling for him. Sammy was in the past, Leo was in the present, they weren't the same person, they were _different_. And it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair to Leo that all Hazel could see when she looked at him was a ghost from her past.

She wanted to be his friend. She wanted to be close to him, as close as she was to the others, but they had slowly drifted away from each other since that day in the underwater camp. They didn't talk, and they always had this awkward tension between them. Hazel didn't know how or who had started it, but now they were avoiding each other. Being each other's partners now would be pretty hard.

But she tried to not think of it, pecked Frank's lips and waved to him while he went off with Jason. Soon, it was only Leo and Hazel left.

"Let's go." Leo said and nodded toward the forest in front of them. "Keep your eyes open."

Hazel nodded and stared down at the ground as she followed him. The forest was dark, cold and damp. She felt like she was being watched, and when she remembered that she were, it only made her feel more uneasy.

_You're just an entertainment. No one cares if you survive or not. You're just some useless pawns on the chess board, cruelly killed and then tossed aside. But everybody will watch every move you make, just to have some fun seeing you suffer. Eyes are everywhere, hungrily following you with their evil gazes._

She didn't want to believe it. No one of the demigods wanted to; it had crushed them. Especially Annabeth. Percy had told them about Luke, the whole story of Kronos awakening through his body and Luke's bond to Annabeth. And it was just so cruel; that the goddess had taken _his _form in front of the daughter of Athena, telling them these course, the words would have been just as horrible if somebody else had said them, but Percy had said that this was exactly what Luke had said when he worked for Kronos, but he had changed, became good in the end. And they knew how heartbreaking it had been for Annabeth to see him, even if it just was an evil goddess taking his shape, say those words again after believing he had changed and sacrificed himself for the greater good.

But it all just lasted a few minutes before Percy shoved his sword through "Luke" and it turned out it wasn't his ghost after all, but some stupid goddess just playing with them. Khione, to be exact.

She had given them a last cold, crooked smile that made them understand that even though her form had been a lie, the words were true.

_Even your dear parents are watching you, waiting for you to do something that they can judge you by. You have to prove them that you actually can stop Gaea, which you by the way can't, just as much as you have to prove it to Gaea. And to yourself._

Leo and Hazel walked in silence through the forest. Hazel kept glancing at Leo, how his eyes were wary and his face grim. It made her think of those times when Sammy walked with her through the schoolyard, carefully looking around to make sure no bullies were coming in their direction.

Suddenly, something red flashed by in the corner of Hazel's eye. She froze.

"Did you see that?" She asked warily.

Leo turned and looked at her in surprise.

"What?"

Hazel hesitated, turned around to see if there was anything red anywhere near them, but saw nothing.

"I… Nothing." She said, her eyes still flickering.

"No, what did you see?" Leo walked over to her, looking deathly serious. "We can't just ignore something. It could be important."

"It was something red." Hazel said and pointed in the direction she saw it. "I saw something flash by in the corner of my eye."

Leo looked around suspiciously, his shoulders tense.

"We'll keep going." He said after a silent moment. "Remember, keep your eyes open. Tell me if you see it again."

Hazel nodded, and Leo turned and started to walk. She followed him quietly, the dark forest suddenly much more intimidating than before. She wasn't scared of the dark, but this darkness was… Solid. Like it wasn't made of air. And the forest was deathly quiet; no animals screeching or pegs crunching under their feet. No swishing of the wind. It was dark and quiet, and Hazel hated how much it reminded her of the Underworld.

She realized Leo had gone out of sight on the path ahead of her. She sped up to catch up with him, but she didn't see him at all. He was swallowed up by the darkness.

Hazel opened her mouth to call for him, but suddenly the red thing flashed by in the corner of her eye. She turned so fast that she almost tripped, but nothing was there. Fear started to crawl up her throat.

She started to run.

"Leo!" She yelled desperately. "Leo, where are you?!"

"Hazel?"

Leo's insecure voice came from somewhere ahead of her, and she almost cried out in relief. He was close. He wasn't gone.

"Where are you?!" She asked. "I can't see you."

It was a moment of silence… And then a gasp.

"RUN!" Leo suddenly yelled. "RUN BACK! FAST!"

"What?!" Hazel asked in confusion. Everything was dark, she couldn't see anything. "Why…?"

Suddenly, the red flash was back, but now between the trees in front of Hazel. It was a pair of horrible, glowing red eyes. The pupils were two black lines, right through the eyes. And as sudden as they appeared, they disappeared.

"Leo!" She shouted. "It-It's eyes…"

But Leo didn't respond. It was all quiet again. Hazel was breathing heavily after running.

Then the eyes were back, but now it was many more. They appeared in random places between the trees, and Hazel realized she was in a circular glade. The only thing she could see was those horrible eyes.

_Eyes are everywhere, hungrily following you with their evil gazes._

Hazel's breath hitched. She tried to cry out after Leo, but her voice didn't seem to work. She realized she was shaking. It was something pulling her to the ground and something pushing her down, and together they managed to make Hazel fall down.

_Everybody will watch every move you make, just to have some fun seeing you suffer._

It became harder to breath. It was like the air was slowly becoming thinner, and the darkness seemed to press closer. It was definitely compact.

"Leo…" Hazel managed to whisper.

"Hazel!" Leo's clear voice suddenly cut through the silence, and she heard his running steps come closer. Suddenly, he was kneeling in front of her.

"What's happening?!" He asked with panic in his voice.

Hazel was shaking violently now. Sweat pearls were running down her face, and she felt like she would collapse anytime. The eyes were still watching her.

"T-The eyes…" She stuttered.

Leo's eyes flickered around, and realization dawned over his face when he saw them.

"C'mon, I'll help you up…" He muttered.

But as he touched her, he suddenly jumped. He stared at her with wide, terrified eyes.

"You-You _burned _me." Leo said. "I can't touch you."

Hazel figured he never had felt how it was to be burned, so she understood why he was so surprised, but still needed help.

"So-Something pulling m-me down..." She said through gritted teeth.

"Right." Leo said suddenly. "I'm sorry. Er, how do I get you up?"

Hazel tried to raise her head to glare at him, but something else caught her eye. The red eyes were much bigger now, which meant… Closer.

"Hurry!" Hazel gasped. She would soon give in and collapse, everything in her hurt horribly and she was trembling madly.

But Leo was staring at something else. Hazel looked up.

The whole glade was full of ghosts now. Ghosts of people they both knew. It was the gods and their enemies, and the demigods from both Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood. They were all staring down at Hazel and Leo. All of them had those red eyes.

"Keep your eyes open, Hazel Levesque." They all said and sneered.

And suddenly, an overwhelming desire to close her eyes washed over Hazel. She almost gave in, but Leo's voice screamed:

"No! Hazel, don't close your eyes!"

"I'm sleepy…" Hazel murmured.

"No, Hazel, look here…" Leo gripped her face and pulled it up so they were face to face. Hazel could see that it pained him, that her touch burned, but he stared in to her eyes steadily.

Even though Hazel was half asleep and every fiber of her body was hurting, she felt a shiver down her spine when Leo looked at her like that.

"This is what they want." He said. "You can't close your eyes. You can't give in."

There was a voice in Hazel's head that was screaming that she should listen to Leo, but all her thoughts were hazy and she couldn't think straight. She just wanted to close her eyes, just blink, it wouldn't do any harm…

"Hazel, listen!" Leo said desperately. "I-I-"

Something that looked like realization flickered over Leo's face, and suddenly his eyes were soft.

"I-I'm in love with you."

And before Hazel could respond, Leo's lips were on hers. She felt a pang in her chest, all the pain in her heart eased, and for a moment she forgot her sleepiness. His lips just brushed against hers, but it was enough for her to feel all relaxed and _happy._

Too relaxed.

Leo pulled away with a huge grin on his face. For a brief moment, Hazel smiled back, a _genuine _smile.

Then she collapsed.

**_Umm… Yeah. I'm sorry, it isn't good at all, but I have a bad case of writers block right now. I hope you liked it anyway. Kind of sad, I know. Please review!_**


	6. Drabble 6 Just A Kiss

**_This song ordinally reminded me of Jasper (Jason and Piper). I don't even know why. I don't even know if I ship them (I'm torn between Jeyna and Jasper…). But yeah. Then I listened to the lyrics more properly, and realized it really fits Lazel. So here you go!_**

**Just A Kiss – Lady Antebellum**

_LEO_

The sun was standing low on the sky, half of it below the horizon. The dark, grey storm-clouds were still rolling in and would soon be hovering over the ship. But the sun was still shining, challenging the storm to come, its light bright in contrast to the dark clouds. It was beautiful in a strange way; it was the last string of sunshine before the storm, and it was reassuring.

The chilly air was damp. It smelled rain from the last storm that had stopped just a few hours ago. You could feel that the clouds weren't the only thing that was going to bring darkness soon. The night was near. The sun would soon be gone and the moon and stars would appear, but mostly be covered by the dark clouds.

"Hi."

Leo jumped and turned. Hazel was standing behind him. She looked as pretty as always, with chocolate skin, cinnamon-colored curls and deep, golden eyes. She was tugging at her denim jacket, like she was trying to pull it closer and make her warmer.

"Hi, Hazel." Leo said, a little awkwardly.

Things had been a little tense between them lately. Leo had managed to gain Frank's thrust about not going to steal Hazel. She and Frank were now being a happy couple again, and Leo was back where everybody seemed to think he belonged; as a seventh wheel.

But he didn't really mind anymore. It was just to accept and go on. Leo had a quest to focus on, and he was happy to have something to distract himself with. He felt good for helping Frank and Hazel to be happy together again, but he couldn't deny that it stung to see them holding hands or smile to each other. He really liked Hazel.

Leo had thought of that for a long time. He liked Hazel, and he had the chance to try to get together with her. But he had chosen to help her with her own boyfriend-issues. And sure, he wanted her to be happy, and he knew that she was with Frank, but it wasn't just that. He felt like he owed it to Frank. He couldn't take Hazel away from him. Frank's mom had died in a fire, and his grandmother maybe had too, and that made Leo feel guilty. He felt like _he _had killed Frank's family. And it wasn't true, of course it wasn't, but he still owed Frank.

Hazel raised her eyes to the sky and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Are you cold?" Leo asked. She looked at him for a moment before she nodded. He gestured for her to come closer.

He took off his hood and handed it to Hazel. She looked slightly surprised, but took it.

"Thank you." She said and put it on. It was a little big for her, but she seemed to feel warmer.

They didn't say anything else. Leo went back to steering. He was surprised by how comfortable the silence was; not awkward at all. The cool air stung his bare arms, but he it didn't bother him. He just increased his body temperature a little. One of the perks of being able to summon fire; you never need to be cold.

The sky suddenly rumbled. Both Hazel and Leo jumped and raised their heads to watch the clouds.

"This storm is bigger than the last one." Hazel noted. "Can the ship handle it?"

Leo snorted.

"This ship can handle anything. A tiny storm won't do any harm."

But he was a little worried. He didn't know why it suddenly was so stormy; he had thought it was the stormspirits playing with them, but could they really make such a huge storm? And Leo, Jason and Piper had captured the stormspirits and given them to Aeolus. The only thing he could think of making such a huge storm was Zeus (Jupier, whatever), Jason's dad, and he couldn't think of why he would make one.

He could feel Hazel regarding him, and he turned to meet her gaze. She blushed a little.

"I would never doubt your ability to build things, but are you sure? The _Argo II _is perfectly capable of war and monster-attacks, but we didn't quite expect a huge storm."

Leo chewed his lip.

"We'll be fine." He said at last, and turned back to the steering wheel.

They settled for silence again. The distant rumbling seemed to get closer, and Leo felt strangely scared.

"What are you doing here?" He asked after a while. "I thought you would eat dinner with the others."

Hazel hesitated.

"I needed to get some fresh air." She said lamely, and Leo knew she was lying. But he didn't press her.

Leo saw in the corner of his eye how she struggled to find the right words. Finally, she opened her mouth.

"I wanted to thank you. For telling Frank about… Sammy and the flashback. I never got to thank you."

Her voice was thick, and Leo frowned a little. She didn't seem happy.

"Uh, it was nothing." He said. "Are you okay? You seem a little sad."

It was a lame explanation, but Leo didn't thrust himself with saying anything else. He was too scared something else would slip out of his mouth.

_You seem a little unhappy._

_You seem a little unhappy. Is it Frank?_

_You seem a little unhappy. Is it Frank? Can I do anything?_

_You seem a little unhappy. Is it Frank? Do you want to be with me instead?_

Hazel kept her eyes on the storm, the golden color slightly darker than before. Her lips pressed together tight, and her eyebrows furrowed. It was so easy to read her. She wasn't a girl who liked to have secrets. She _couldn't _have any secrets. They would just show. She wasn't a girl who held back if she didn't have to.

It struck Leo that he was quite the opposite. He held back. He had secrets. They weren't really secrets, because he could tell them to others, and he did. He just didn't give them the whole truth.

He never had.

"You can tell me." Leo said softly. _Because I know you want to. And I want you to tell me, I want us to be friends, I want you to trust me. I want to be close to you, even though you don't want to be in the way I want to._

Hazel locked eyes with him. Then her eyes fluttered close.

"Have you ever loved two people, and had to choose one of them?"

Leo looked at the horizon. He thought for a moment. Had he? No, not really. He never had let his guard down to love two people that he knew he would have to choose between.

"No." He said flatly.

Hazel still didn't open her eyes.

"I-I have." She said quietly. "And I love both of them. The problem is that they-they both like me enough to get hurt if they don't get chosen. I'm scared that if I choose one of them, the other will hate me."

Leo knew what she was talking about. He knew she talked about him and Frank. And that's probably why he said:

"If they both like you enough to get hurt when you choose someone else, they both like you enough to hold on to whatever you give them. Of course they would think it hurts at first, but if you offer friendship, they won't let it go. When… When you love someone, you do anything to keep close to them. Even if it's not on the level you would want."

Hazel opened her eyes and looked at him in surprise. Leo felt himself blush. Where had those words come from?

"Are you sure?" She asked. "It feels so cruel to turn one of them down, why would they want my friendship at all?"

"Because they love you." Leo said simply. "And they know you would make the right choice. They just want you to be happy. It's better to turn one of them down, because hoping can sometimes hurt more than getting your hopes crushed, Hazel."

He spoke about himself. Because it hurt to hope, it hurt to hope that maybe Hazel would want him and it hurt to hope that his mother maybe could come back. He wished those hopes could just get crushed, so he didn't need to suffer through it. He wanted Hazel to say right to his face that they never would get together, because then he would at least stop getting his hopes up.

"Y-You're right." Hazel said quietly. "Thank you."

Leo just nodded and kept his eyes on the horizon. He didn't want to look at her right now. He didn't want to see her pretty face or beautiful eyes, because it would make him want more, and then he would just hope more. And it hurt.

Why did everything hurt so much?

The last streaks of sunlight beamed desperately, but soon the whole sun was gone. The clouds were right above them, and Leo felt the first heavy raindrops fall on him. Darkness surrounded them, the rumbling became louder, and lightning flashed on the sky. Leo looked up and he thought of how peaceful the sky could be sometimes. But behind that it hid all this, rain and lightning and thunder. Everything was a façade, the whole world was, and just beneath the surface the chaos was lurking, waiting for the perfect time to break free.

"Go back in." Leo said in a tired voice to Hazel. "You'll get wet."

"You too." Her voice was steady. "You'll get sick. We can't afford with…"

"We've got ambrosia and nectar." Leo cut her off. "Go now."

He didn't mean to sound that harsh, but he really wanted to be alone now. Leo closed his eyes, but thanks to all the talking, he just saw flashes of the night his mom died. He hated how tears started to burn behind his eyelids, and how the pain tore on his heart. He wanted to blame someone, but there was no one but himself. But he could blame Hazel for pulling those memories out from the corner of his head where he had shoved them.

"Leo…" Hazel begun. Her voice was sad, pained, and he felt her looking right at him. "I didn't mean to…"

"Go back to Frank." Leo's voice was hoarse. "Make sure he knows that you love him. Be _happy._" It sounded like he was pleading, and he really was. "Crush my hopes."

"Leo, _no._" He suddenly felt Hazel's hands gripping his face and turning him towards her. He opened his eyes to see hers, now hard and determined. "I'm not going to crush your hopes. Hoping is a good thing."

"Not like this." Leo shook his head vigorously, making Hazel let go of him. "To hope _hurts. _I don't want to hope. I don't want to hope that my mom can come back or that you want me instead or that we actually save the world. I want to know and accept, I don't want to hope or believe. It just ends with more pain."

Hazel stared at him, but he avoided meeting her eyes. Leo knew he had said too much. He knew she knew a lot more about him now, and she could take advantage of that and learn more. And it terrified him, it terrified him that she knew, because after having it inside him for such a long time it just felt wrong to hand it to someone else.

"I know there are people who had much worse lives than me." Leo mumbled self-consciously. "But I'm tired of hoping that everything maybe will be okay someday. Not when I just keep getting signs that says it _won't._ I know I'm being selfish. So instead of grieving over my life being miserable, I want to help people be happy. Like being on this quest to save the world. Like making you and Frank overcome your issues about Sammy and me."

He suddenly felt self-conscious and embarrassed. Hazel was going to judge him now, and he didn't want to be judged. He hadn't had a horrible life. He was just whining, and even though he knew that, he didn't want someone else to point it out.

"You're not being selfish at all, Leo." Hazel's voice was soothing, and she stepped closer. Leo looked at her in surprise. "You're an amazing person. I don't know why someone like you had to go through things like this. You deserve to be happy. And I won't be happy until you are, and I'm not going to crush your hopes because they're a part of you."

They were almost nose to nose now, and Leo smiled sadly.

"Go now." His voice was steady. "Go in and have some fun."

And Hazel knew he wouldn't listen if she protested. She knew she had lost. Leo could see that she gave up, because there was no way to heal him, he was broken permanently. He had accepted it, and she had tried to convince him that he could be okay again, but it wasn't true. They both knew it.

You can heal a broken hearted person, but you can't heal a broken heart.

Hazel leaned forward and attached their lips. Leo couldn't move. He didn't know what was happening, and he didn't know if it was good or bad, and he didn't really know anything anymore. But he kissed back, and it felt like the shattered pieces of his heart slowly started to try and rebuild themselves. It was soft and brief, but still enough to make Leo feel happy, even if it was just for a moment.

When Hazel pulled back, she looked him right in the eyes.

"I'll make you happy. I'll make you hope and believe again. I choose you."

**_I know the song doesn't really have anything to the story to do, but I think it turned out pretty well. Hope you liked it too! Please review!_**


	7. Drabble 7 See The Light

**_HELLO GUYS! Thanks for all amazing reviews, I love you!_**

**_Thanks for the song requests too, I hope you'll give me more amazing songs to write too :)_**

**_Special thank you to .MockingjaysO.O for the wonderful song-request!_**

**See The Light – Tangled (the movie)**

_HAZEL_

"Where are we going, Leo?" Hazel asked nervously.

"You'll see." Even though Hazel couldn't see him, she knew he was grinning. She didn't really know if it was a good or bad thing. You could never know what he was up to.

"Leo, seriously, what's going on? Why are you holding for my eyes and where are you leading me?"

She tried to restrain the tiny panic in her voice. Was it really Leo? Could it be some monster playing her trick? Could he be possessed? Hazel had started to find it hard to trust since the Eidolons. She was constantly wary.

Leo must have heard the dread in her voice.

"It's okay, Hazel." He said soothingly. "Nothing's wrong. I just thought it would be fun to surprise you."

Hazel heard a tone of doubt creep in to his voice.

"No, no, it's fun, really." She quickly assured him. "I think it's really nice of you, but I'm just a little bit…"

"Wary. Yeah, you should be. I'm maybe some monster that's kidnapping you from Frank." Leo said, his old playful voice back.

Leo urged her to keep going. Soon, Hazel couldn't feel the _Argo II'_s smooth floor underneath her feet; it was replaced by earthy ground. A little thrill of surprise and dread went through her.

"You know it's dark outside. Coach Hedge wouldn't like us sneaking out like this." Hazel warned him halfheartedly. Truth was, she was curious.

She could imagine his crooked grin that she secretly loved. It reminded her so much of Sammy that it hurt, but Hazel couldn't hold on to the past like that. She was with Frank now. Sammy was gone, and Leo wasn't Sammy. It wasn't fair to Leo to think of him like his grandfather, and it wasn't fair to Frank that Hazel was slowly falling for him either.

But she pushed those thoughts away.

Suddenly, Hazel's foot collided with something hard. She screamed in surprise, almost tripping, but Leo caught her in the last moment. He had to remove his hands from her eyes and she opened them and caught a glimpse of a dark forest before he yelled:

"Close your eyes!"

And she did.

Slowly, Leo helped her up on her feet and placed his hands on her eyes again so she couldn't see anything.

"Thank you." Hazel said quietly.

"It was nothing. But I saw that you were trying to look! Try it again, and I might not catch you again."

She laughed a little.

Hazel walked much slower and more carefully for the rest of the journey to avoid falling again. Leo seemed fine with it, and they kept walking in silence. She couldn't quite decide if it was an awkward or comfortable silence. It unsettled her.

And suddenly Leo stopped in his tracks, so Hazel did the same.

"W-What…?" Hazel begun, but Leo's cheerful voice cut her off.

"Surprise!"

Then he removed his hands from her face, and she had to blink a few times before everything came in to focus. A quiet gasp slipped through her lips.

They were by a lake. Trees were surrounding them. It was dark, but the shining full moon and twinkling stars were lighting up the sky, their faint light reflected in the smooth, dark water of the lake. The water was met by soft, white sand that made Hazel want to throw away her shoes and bury her feet in it.

And then there were the fireflies.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of the insects were flying around, their lights beautifully twinkling like the stars. It was hard to make out their bodies at all; their shining backs were the only thing that mattered. It was so beautiful that Hazel felt tears well up in her eyes.

Leo had been standing quiet next to her, letting her take in the sight, but now he spoke up.

"It's firefly-season, apparently, and I thought it would be nice to surprise you. I searched to see where they use to gather, and according to Google, this forest was often full of them. And they like water, apparently. So… Pretty cool, huh?" Hazel could see him grinning to her from the corner of her eye, but she didn't pay attention. She was staring at the scene in front of her in awe with tearful eyes.

"…Hazel?" Leo asked, a streak of worry in his voice. "I'm sorry, if you don't like it we could just go back to the ship, I probably should have asked you instead – Are you _crying_?"

His startled look and almost horrified voice almost made her smile again.

"Oh god, I didn't mean to… I mean, are you scared of insects? Let's go back, I'm sorry, it's my fault…" Leo rambled nervously, gripping her arm and carefully trying to pull her with him back in to the forest.

But before he could keep talking, Hazel turned and wrapped her arms around him tightly. The tears that burned in her eyes slowly started to fall, which was stupid since she almost never cried of happiness (or pain). But it didn't matter. She buried her head in the crook of his neck, his soft skin smelling of machine oil and smoke.

At first, Leo was stiff and didn't respond to the hug, but then he slowly let his hands slide to Hazel's back. It was like he wasn't used to hugging, but then he slowly relaxed and pulled her closer.

When they pulled away, Leo was grinning shyly and Hazel smiling brightly while wiping away the tears with the back of her hand.

"It's amazing, Leo." She turned and looked at the fireflies dancing over the lake. "I've never seen anything this beautiful before. I love it."

Leo's grin widened.

Hazel bent down, started to take off her shoes and socks and fold up her pants until they reached her knees. Barefoot, she walked to the water, her feet burying themselves in the soft sand and slipping through her toes every time she lifted them to walk. It felt good.

It was quiet but the soft rustling of the wind and the buzz from the fireflies. Slowly, Hazel walked to the water, kneeled down and let her fingers touch the dark water. It was cool and left her fingers dropping.

Leo walked to her. He had taken off his shoes and folded his pants too, and he crouched down next to Hazel, grinning nervously and shooting her a little confused but happy look. She blushed a little, but hoped that the dark wouldn't let him see that. He fixed his eyes on the sky, where stars and fireflies were blending together. The moon looked unusually big and bright against the black background.

Hazel looked at Leo, how his brilliant eyes reflected the sky and his neck was slightly craned so his chin was up high like he was facing the moon. He was biting his lip, his black curls glinted in the light and. He looked so beautiful, so innocent, so _Sammy. _

Then he rose and brushed off his pants. Leo offered Hazel his hand with a mischievous grin. Slowly she took it and pulled herself up.

And _SPLASH!_

Leo pulled Hazel in to the water, but stopped when it reached his knees. Instead of letting Hazel stop, he let go of her hand and pushed her so she fell face down in to the cool, dark water.

Gasping and panting, she immediately got up. The cool water was nothing compared to how chilly the air was against her wet skin. Her hair was dropping wet, her curls slightly less curly and her golden eyes flashing in anger. Leo was shaking of laughter.

"Leo!" Hazel bellowed.

"Y-Your _face_!" Leo laughed. "Oh my gods, Hazel! You-"

But suddenly he was dragged in to the water too. Hazel gripped his arm and pulled him forward so he stumbled and fell. It wasn't deep, but still enough to make his whole head wet.

When Leo's head broke to the surface and appeared, he was grinning. Hazel guessed he had expected it, since he wetted her down too. He was completely soaked but didn't look too sad about it.

His playful grin told Hazel that he was going to continue playing this game, and suddenly it wasn't Leo, it was S_ammy. _Those days when they had played games and gone to picnics and…

She shivered and closed her eyes.

"Are you cold?" Leo's gentle voice was suddenly very close, and she almost jumped in surprise. He had moved fast. "C'mon, let's go back to the ship so you can change. Sorry for soaking you."

He didn't sound too sorry. Hazel opened her eyes, but Leo was already wading back to the bank. She was met by the sight of the endless sky, the twinkling stars and the shining moon. A firefly sat down on her wet arm.

Hazel turned to see where Leo had gone. He was standing on the bank, twisting out the water from the bottom of his t-shirt.

She was still standing in the water, but it didn't feel cold anymore. She didn't mind that she was wet. She only had eyes for Leo, how peaceful he looked. That was the moment it really struck her that he wasn't Sammy. Not because he liked mechanics and was a demigod, or because he could steer a huge ship, but because of the little, small things; how he treated Hazel so carefully and how he didn't hate Frank for being her boyfriend. How he would blush slightly when their eyes met. How he would give her a small smile and then share the same with Frank, and then hurry to leave. Sammy wouldn't have acted like that, he would have been so confident in that Hazel wanted him instead of Frank that he wouldn't doubt it. He wouldn't doubt himself. Yes, he would be nice to Frank, and yes, he would want Hazel to be happy, but he would have knew that she liked him more than the Asian, sweet guy she called her boyfriend. Leo didn't have that confidence. He was embarrassed and abashed because he didn't think anyone would want him at all. Hazel realized that Nemesis' words really had stuck with him, and not because it was a goddess who said them, but because he had already suspected it. And it made her heart ache.

Not for Sammy. Not for Frank.

For Leo.

"Leo, come back here." Hazel's voice was a little hoarse. Leo turned and looked at her with a startled expression, and for once, she didn't see Sammy. She fixed her gaze on the sky again, waiting for him to come back in to the water.

"What is it?" Leo asked worriedly. "If you're really cold, I could light a fire, but I don't want to risk Frank's life when the ship is only a few-"

"I'm sorry." Hazel blurted out.

"For what?" He looked genuinely confused.

She sighed and didn't meet his eyes.

"For not seeing _you. _Every time I looked at you, I just saw Sammy, and it was so wrong. You're not him. You're not an echo of him. You're Leo, and you shouldn't be mistaken for someone else. I was stupid."

Leo didn't respond for a while. Hazel couldn't see his face, since she was staring at the sky and begging to every god she knew that he wouldn't hate her. Then, very carefully, she felt a hand clasp her own, lace their fingers together. In complete surprise, she turned and stared at Leo. He was smiling shyly.

"It's okay. I understand. But you said 'was'?"

Hazel couldn't help but laugh a little. There was water streaming down her face, but she didn't know if it was tears or just drops from when she had been pushed in to the lake.

Leo grinned, obviously happy with making her laugh. He didn't let go of her hand.

"I'm… I see you now." Hazel said quietly. "And you're amazing. You're brave and gentle. You don't need to be a seventh wheel."

His grin morphed in to an expression of pain. Something like guilt flashed in his eyes. Hazel looked at him in surprise.

"I am. Nemesis said it, and it has always been true. It won't change now. But I'm happy with that. My dad once told me that he's more comfortable with machines than organic life forms." Leo laughed bitterly. "I guess it rubbed off on me. I like being with machines. They're understandable and logical. There's always a logical explanation behind every malfunction, and it can often be fixed. But when a human do a mistake, there's sometimes no explanation and it can almost never be fixed."

Hazel frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Leo bit his lip and turned away. He fixed his eyes on the sky, staring at the moon with glassy eyes.

"What I mean," He said slowly, "is that people do mistakes with no good reason. And it can cost them lives."

At first, she was confused. Hazel thought he was accusing her for something, but then she realized he wasn't talking about her. He was talking about himself.

His father was Hephaestus, a god. That meant his mother had to be mortal, but he never mentioned her.

_She's dead, _Hazel realized.

And he was blaming himself.

She wanted to say something comforting, but the way he was staring at the sky made it clear he had his thoughts somewhere else. She didn't want to press him. He would open up soon enough anyway. The only thing she could do was being there, ready when that day came.

Hazel squeezed Leo's hand lightly. He turned to her, his eyes taking a few seconds to focus. She smiled.

"Could you light a fire anyway? I'm not quite ready to go back to the ship yet. Let's make a camp fire on the beach."

Leo smiled, obviously relieved that she didn't mention anything about his mom. It stung her heart, but Hazel let it go and followed Leo back to the bank.

They made a fire and just sat down and watched the flames dancing in harmony with the fireflies.

Even when Hazel fell asleep, her head snuggling on Leo's chest, they didn't let go of each other's hands.

**_Sorry for delayed chapter. Hope you liked it, I'm not that satisfied but it'll do. I'm busy with school and stuff, but I hope that the next drabble will be uploaded to the end of the week. Sorry if there's any grammar errors, and sorry that there's no kissing. And I'm really sorry for bringing Leo's mom up in every chapter; I just love to write about him vulnerable and sad (yes I'm evil. If you don't trust me, read my other story, Too Complicated ;)) but if it gets too annoying, don't be afraid to tell me!_**

**_Love y'alls!_**


	8. Drabble 8 Safe And Sound

**_Guuuuuuuuuuys! :D_**

**_Thanks for all reviews! I love you!_**

**_some person_****_: I'm so sorry for not doing your song request yet, but I promise to do it soon! Next drabble will be to one of your songs. I already had this written so I thought I would publish it… Yeah. But I'll do yours soon! Don't think you're forgotten!_**

**_I'm sorry that so many of my drabbles are so sad. I'll try to make happier ones!_**

**_…After this._**

**Safe and Sound – Taylor Swift**

_LEO_

He sat and watched how she slowly breathed, tears streaming down her pale face, her golden eyes horrified.

"H-Hazel!" Leo stumbled in. Piper, Percy and Annabeth was already in there. Piper sat next to the bed, clutching Hazel's hand and murmuring soothing words that didn't seem to work; Percy was leaning over her and checking if she was feverish, and Annabeth was searching for more nectar.

Annabeth made quick eye-contact when Leo came in. She didn't smile. Her stormy, grey eyes looked right through him, and for a moment he was frozen, but then she softened and turned away. Piper pressed her lips to a tight smile when she saw him, and Percy simply nodded.

Nico and Frank were trying to get some sleep. No one of them had wanted to leave Hazel, but they had to rest. Leo, Jason and Coach Hedge had just come from the battle field. They followed him in to the sickbay. Jason ran to Piper's side and Coach Hedge went right to Hazel to examine her.

Leo couldn't do anything but stare at Hazel. Her face was wet with sweat, her eyes filled of pain and horror, her face much paler than it should be. Her body was slack on the bed and her moves sluggish as she slowly turned to look at Leo. He could see that she attempted to smile, but she was too weak.

The other in the room exchanged a silent message and started to leave the room. They passed by Leo, some of them patting his back, but he didn't even notice. As soon as the sickbay was empty, he stumbled to Hazel's side and kneeled next to the bed.

He felt numb.

Hazel tried to smile again, and this time the corners of her lips quirked upward a little. Her eyes were half-closed, but the horror Leo had seen in them when he came washed away as he clasped her hand and squeezed hard.

"Leo." She croaked.

The tears that were escaping his eyes mixed with sweat and blood. He tried hard to not sob. He had to be strong for her sake.

"Hazel, everything is going to be fine." His voice broke a little in the end, but it still sounded calmer than he thought it would.

Hazel smiled tiredly.

"I-It was m-my fault." She said, her voice raspy. "I-I s-shouldn't have…"

"Stop, just… don't. Relax." Leo prompted. He couldn't bear hearing her blame herself when it was _his _fault.

She inhaled shakily, and the tense in her shoulders slipped a little. Leo forced a reassuring smile, even though the tears were streaming down his face. Or maybe it was sweat. Or blood. He didn't know or care.

"T-Talk?" Hazel asked.

Leo nodded and licked his lips. He had no idea what he should talk about, but then he felt how the ship turned a little.

"The gods came and helped us kill the last monsters and rebuild the city. The battle is over, but the mortals are really panicked. The Olympians are gonna make them forget all of this and say that it was some kind of cyclone or something. Many died, but not as many as expected. We closed the Doors in time." Leo relaxed a little. "It's over. Festus said we'll be home in two weeks."

Hazel nodded. Even that small effort made her face paler.

"You'll be alright. No one can hurt you now." He soothed and squeezed her hand.

"A-Are everybody a-alright?" Hazel asked.

"Yes. Percy and Annabeth too. Nico said he'll talk to them a little about… You know."

"G-Good."

They settled for comfortable silence. The sound of Hazel's shaky breathing mixed with Leo's steady one mixed together. She seemed to struggle to say something.

"Relax. Relax." Leo said. "Try to relax."

"I-It wasn't y-your fault. That I-I got s-sick." Hazel managed to say.

Her words were like a knife to Leo's heart.

_You're lying, it was my fault, it shouldn't be you lying there._

"I know. You have to rest." His voice was tight. Hazel's golden, beautiful, tired eyes seemed to look right in to his soul.

"N-No, you d-don't." Slowly, she pulled herself up. Leo helped her so she was sitting. It seemed to hurt, but she looked happy to not lie down. "I-It had to b-be me. Y-You have to s-steer the s-ship and fix it a-again. Y-You h-have to t-take us home s-safe…" Her voice faltered and she winced.

Leo squeezed her hand harder, feeling warm drops trickle down his cheeks.

"Hazel…"

"L-Listen!" She sounded a little angry, and Leo knew she was too weak to fight, so he closed his mouth. "S-Someone h-had to g-get sick. An o-oath to k-keep with a f-final breath, r-remember? T-This is t-the oath."

Hazel was trembling.

"W-We had t-to promise t-that one of us would s-suffer, t-that one of us w-wouldn't be a-able to fight, o-or the g-gods wouldn't h-help us d-defeat G-Gaea."

"Yes, yes, Hazel." Leo hurried to agree. "Now rest." His voice was weak.

She didn't listen. She faced Leo and her eyes got back a little of that sparkling energy they used to have.

"T-They chose m-me, a-and it was a w-wise choice. Y-You couldn't have d-done anything."

_Yes, I could, I could have refused to let them infect you and I could have tried to fight them._

Hazel started to cough violently.

"No. no, you're right." Leo was so desperate for her to lie down and rest that he could have agreed to anything she said. "Lie down. Relax. You have to rest to get better."

He didn't say the obvious, what everybody on the ship was thinking.

_"An oath to keep with a final breath". The sickness is the oath. A final breath means death. She'll die._

But Leo refused to believe it, he didn't, he _couldn't. _He was desperately hoping that she would recover, that she would survive, that there was some kind of escape.

Somewhere deep in his heart, he knew it was impossible.

Leo's world had been on fire since the day his mom died. Everything around him was on fire. But he wasn't immune. The smoke of guilt was making it harder to breathe, and for every passing day he tried to ignore it, it got worse. The fire wasn't warm and bright. It was dark and cold.

And then Hazel came, a light, something to light up his dull world. She was like the water that killed the fire, and it didn't matter that the flames kept appearing, because she kept extinguish them.

He had finally found his light, and now it was going to be snatched away from him.

Again.

Hazel didn't lie down. As soon as she stopped coughing, she started to speak again.

"Y-You have to p-promise me to n-not blame y-yourself, okay? When I'm g-gone, I d-don't want you to b-beat yourself u-up because o-of this. I d-don't want you to f-forget me," She smiled a little, "b-but don't b-blame yourself. P-Promise."

A lump formed in Leo's throat.

"I'll never forget you. I love you." He whispered.

"P-Promise." She prompted. "Promise t-to not b-blame yourself. O-or anyone e-else."

Leo swallowed and tried to say the word, but he couldn't. His lips wouldn't form it.

"Lie down and rest, Hazel. Close your eyes." He said instead, his voice incredibly soft.

Hazel was too weak to argue. She slipped back, lying and looking at Leo with sad eyes.

"P-Please, Leo, promise." She pleaded.

It broke Leo's heart, but he couldn't. He wouldn't ever blame anyone else, but he wouldn't stop blaming himself. He quietly tucked her in and pressed his lips on her forehead.

"Just close your eyes. You'll be alright."

And as Hazel's eyes fluttered close for one last time and her breathing slowly faded away, Leo's heart broke for the second time in his life.

But this time, there was nothing that could heal it.

**_Gods, why am I so cruel?! I started crying myself. I'm sorry. _**


	9. Drabble 9 Two Is Better Than One

**_Hello! Thanks for the review :)_**

**_some person_****_, I've finally made your song request! ;) It's a great song, actually!_**

**Two Is Better Than One – BoysLikeGirls ft. Taylor Swift**

_LEO_

"I'm home!" Leo said loudly as he carefully closed the door behind him. He heard the scrambling of plates getting dished from the kitchen, and smiled a little.

Quietly, he tiptoed in, sneaking up behind his girlfriend and hugging her. Hazel flinched, but then laughed.

"You have to stop scaring me like that, Leo!"

Leo buried his nose in her cinnamon-colored hair, breathing in the familiar smell and grinning.

"You know you love it."

Hazel muttered something under her breath, words about Leo being the death of her, but her tone was light and amused. Leo let his eyes glide over the kitchen; the small room was cozy, always smelling of nice food. The walls were brown to match the wooden cabinets. A small, wooden table with two chairs was standing in the corner of the room; beautiful but simple, built by Leo. Pictures were covering the fridge-door; pictures of when they were younger, of their friends, of people they loved and places they wanted to visit again. The kitchen was familiar, nice, and gave everyone who stepped in a feeling of _home._

"Why so quiet?" Hazel asked, washing the bubbles from the dish soap from her hands and turning to Leo to peck him on the cheek.

"Just thinking." Leo said and grinned. "Have you heard from Jason and Piper lately?"

Hazel frowned.

"I think they are going to eat dinner with Percy and Annabeth tonight. Why?"

Leo shrugged.

"I talked to Jason a few days ago. He wanted to come over some day – do you think we could fix that?"

His girlfriend's eyes immediately lit up.

"Yes! We should invite Percy, Annabeth, Frank and Nico too. It was so long time since we all had dinner together. Oh, it would be lovely."

As she kept talking, Leo looked at her face. She looked like she had when he first met her; chocolate-colored skin, golden eyes, pink lips and cinnamon hair. She was just as pretty as before, but older. That wasn't strange since they were almost 10 years older now, and they met as teenagers.

"Leo, are you even listening?" Hazel's tone was annoyed, but her eyes amused.

"Um, yeah, sure." Leo said. "Er… Right, dinner! When? Next weekend?"

Hazel nodded and started to speak about what food she would be cooking, what time, and when she was going to call them all and invite them. Leo just nodded as he absentmindedly played with some of her curls.

He couldn't help thinking of how lucky he was.

It was just pure luck that everyone had survived from the quest. Now, Leo and Hazel were living together in the city of New Rome. Leo worked in Camp Half-Blood and learned the Hephaestus-kids about forging and building. Everybody called him Fun Professor Leo since he always joked and was grinning.

He and the rest of the demigods from the _Argo II _were legends in both Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood. Percy, Annabeth, Jason and Piper were living in New Rome as well. Percy was teaching swordfighting in Camp Half-Blood and Annabeth was professor in Ancient Greek History. She had written four books about the subject, and traveled a lot, but it wasn't a problem for her. Sure, she still attracted a lot of monsters outside the camps, but she knew how to deal with them.

Jason was teaching fighting classes in Camp Jupiter, and believe it or not, Piper had followed her dad's footsteps and became an actress. She was most famous for her role in a movie about the Trojan War as Helene. As Annabeth, working in the mortal world was dangerous for her, but Piper never cared about that. Her charm-speaking had grown stronger with her age, and even though she stubbornly refused to use it when she acted, she could make every monster that approached her leave faster than lightning.

Frank had, with Leo's help, rebuilt his grandmother's house and was living there now. He came to visit the camps sometimes, teaching the new Apollo kids about archery and was known as Uncle Frank. Hazel had been scared that he would get lonely, so she had convinced her brother Nico to live with him. It was a mystery how she had actually succeeded, since Nico still was pretty dull and not-so-social. But now, Frank and Nico were roommates and pretty close friends.

It all almost felt too good to be true, but Leo wasn't complaining. Not at all.

At some point, Hazel stopped talking and turned to find a drachma and Iris Message Piper. As she said Piper's location, Leo slid his arms around her waist from behind and they slowly walked over to the fridge. A dim image of their friend showed up on the sleek wall next to the fridge (where they had window so the light would reflect and turn to a rainbow on the wall). Leo waved to Piper as she smiled to him. Hazel chatted happily with her as Leo let his eyes roam over the old pictures on the fridge.

There was one of Hazel standing on deck of the _Argo II, _looking at the view with an absent smile. She hadn't noticed Leo taking the photo.

Another was of Leo, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Piper and Coach Hedge standing together, all smiling widely. They looked tired, with ruffled hair and bruises and cuts here and there on their arms, faces and legs, but they all looked really _happy_. It was just when they had won the war, and Leo had convinced them all to take a photo before they all collapsed out of exhaustion.

Another one was really old. It was a small picture of Sammy. Hazel had mentioned having it in her old house when they first moved together, and Leo had surprised her one day with coming home with it. Her eyes had misted and she had put it on the fridge.

There was also one of Leo's mother when she was younger. It had taken time to find the picture; he had to visit his horrible Aunt Rosa's house and look through her old photo albums after a good photo (Rosa had died a few years ago, and Leo didn't feel ashamed for breaking in to her house after how rude she had been to him). Its edges were frayed and it was in black and white, but his mother was smiling with wrinkled eyes and it made Leo feel happy to look at it.

But the best picture was the one in the middle of the fridge. It was an old man and a young woman with a toddler in her arms. The picture was old and worn, black and white, but you could still make out the people. Sammy's curls were white as snow and his eyes dark and piercing, his face lit up in a smile. He was sitting in armchair, and Esperanza was sitting on the arm of it with the baby in her lap. She was smiling widely too, her hair short and her face young. The baby was wrapped in a blanket and you couldn't see his face as his face was turned to his mother, comfortably snuggling in her arms. Leo had found the picture in his Aunt Rosa's photo album too, and immediately taken it home to show Hazel. The picture was not just showing the two people they loved and lost, but also the connection between them, where their lifelines had touched.

Hazel swept her arm through the Iris Message and Piper's smiling face dissolved. She turned to the fridge too; her eyes fixed on the photo of Sammy, Esperanza and Leo, and smiled.

"I love you." She said.

Leo smiled in to her hair. He would never get tired of her saying those words.

"I love you too." He said, his voice quiet but almost bursting of love and adoration. "So much."

**_This was pretty short, but I'm actually satisfied. I thought a little fluffy, happy, future-Lazel would be needed after all of the depressing drabbles I've written lately (sorry for that, by the way)! It didn't really have anything to do with the song, but well, this was what came in to mind when I listened to it. Warm thank you to _****_some person_****_ for requesting this wonderful song! _**

**_This is the first time I've written something about Leo and Hazel that was set so far in the future. Let me know if you liked it, so I can write more like this ;) _**

**_And by the way, if anyone wonders how the demigods could travel between the camps, so have I mentioned it in my second drabble and in my other story, Too Complicated! _**


	10. Drabble 10 Heroes

_**Sorry for not uploading for such a long time! I've been really busy! Thanks for the reviews! :')**_

_**Now, I promised to start write happier drabbles, so feel free to request songs that's a little more upbeat with happy lyrics.**_

_**Some Awsome Person:**_ _**Nice that you got an account, and thanks for adding my stories as favorites :D I actually listened to your other song request, A Year Without Rain, but I couldn't come up with any idea about what to write so I'm just gonna wait with that one. But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna do it later ;)**_

_**Christina:**_ _**I respect your opinion, and thanks for the advice.**_

* * *

**Heroes – David Bowie**

_LEO_

* * *

"The Greek demigods will have to wait here until the Romans are done talking with the Olympians. Understood?" Zeus boomed from the sky. He hadn't actually came outside to talk to them personally (he was probably still very torn between his Roman and Greek shapes), but all the demigods heard his voice clearly around them. It was strong as thunder, sharp as lightning and huge as the sky. You could hear who he was just by listening to his voice.

"We'll see you later then." Jason said to them. Hazel and Frank walked over to his side.

"Be careful." Nico said grimly. "You never know what the gods can do when they're torn like this."

Piper lunged forward and hugged Jason tightly, and before Nico could protest, Hazel had wrapped her arms around him too. He looked really surprised, but then leaned in to the touch.

"See you later then." Annabeth said with finality in her voice.

Leo, Percy, Nico, Annabeth and Piper raised their hands in farewell as Jason, Frank and Hazel entered the huge castle.

They were in the city, where everything was white and silver and gold, and everyone was stunningly beautiful or handsome. They were all minor gods, demigods or nymphs, and they giggled, pointed and winked when they noticed the five demigods standing outside the gods dwelling.

If it hadn't been for Hazel, Leo wouldn't have hesitated to flirt with some of them.

Hazel was the most amazing girl Leo ever had met. She was nice, she was sweet, she was cute and she was brave. She knew more about him than someone else, but of course she was already taken. And even though Frank and Leo had made their peace, and Leo had promised to not take away his girl, he couldn't stop being in love, and he hated it. It was the worst curse imaginable.

But he wasn't going to take away Hazel from Frank. He would give her a choice. She could say no if she wanted to. Leo honestly just wanted her to be happy.

He hoped the Romans would be done soon.

And just a moment later, Jason, Frank and Hazel stepped out from the building. The sunshine that beamed over Hazel made her eyes look like pure gold. Leo's heart ached.

They all had similar expressions on their faces: awe and confusion.

"You have to go in now." Jason said.

Percy nodded, linked his arm with Annabeth and started to go. Nico followed them, his hands in his pockets and the same grim expression as always on his face. Leo and Piper followed nervously.

Leo fiddled with some things he found in his toolbelt, thinking of when he saw Hephaestus do the same in that dream, and then realized he was going to meet his father again. Should he be happy? He honestly just felt confused.

"We're going to meet our parents." Piper said, her voice quiet and a little surprised.

"Yeah." Leo said, and then furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey, you're the daughter of Aphrodite and I'm the son of Hephaestus, and our parents are married. Are we stepsiblings?"

"Oh my gods." She groaned. "Why does the gods' family have to be so complicated? And, wait… Aphrodite is daughter of Ouranos, Zeus' grandfather. And Jason is Zeus' son. Then Aphrodite is Kronos' sister, and then she's… She's Zeus aunt. And-" Piper exclaimed, horrified.

"Stop. You're giving me a headache, sis." Leo said, only partly joking.

Piper glared at him, but he just shrugged and grinned. Then her expression softened.

"You've always been like an annoying brother to me. But I love you." She nudged him playfully, and Leo's grin widened. "Can you believe that a year ago, we were stuck at the Wilderness School?"

"I know. That would totally suck. And I love you too, by the way."

Piper smiled.

They entered the hall, and Leo had to hold back a gasp.

It was beautiful, just like you would imagine that Olympus looks like. It was like something coming straight from a fairytale, but bigger and more powerful. A huge hearth was burning in the middle of the hall.

"You designed all this?!" Leo said before he could stop himself and turned to Annabeth.

She was glowing with pride.

"Yes."

"It's amazing." Leo said and grinned. Annabeth looked a little surprised, but smiled back.

Then, after a moment of awkward silence, he realized that the gods were there too.

They were sitting on their respective thrones. They were not in human size, but huge; tall like houses, and looking even bigger because of the power they radiated. The thrones reflected who they were; for example, Poseidon's was a fisherman's chair, Dionysos' was made of vines. Leo immediately knew who was who.

His gaze immediately searched for his own father, and there he was. Ugly, with huge blots on his face and a huge beard that was sparking with fire. But his dark eyes had a glint of something, and you could see that he was more than his looks. He was wearing an brown overall stained with machine oil, with huge pockets.

Leo noticed that he was fiddling with something too, and stared down at his own hands. He raised his head again and their eyes met. Hephaestus nodded politely, and Leo did the same.

It felt strange.

He let his gaze sweep over the rest of the Olympians. Hermes' hair was salt-and-pepper-colored, and his eyes clear blue with a glint of cleverness. He had a playful smile on his lips, and looked kind of elfish. He was wearing a blue mailman uniform, and Leo appreciated the irony of it. He winked to Leo as their eyes met.

Demeter looked nice, with dark hair and a small smile. Her eyes were dark, but warm. Her white robes lined with gold fitted her looks, the fabric wavering around her beautifully. Her smile widened as she caught Leo looking.

Aphrodite was stunning. The traditional and simple Greek robes she was wearing looked ten times more beautiful on her. She constantly changed, growing more and more beautiful, and Leo thought she looked a little like Hazel. Aphrodite raised her hand and waved a little to Leo, and then winked. He was pretty sure he blushed.

Athena looked very much like Annabeth. Her eyes were stormy grey and serious, her hair blond and curly, and she was beautiful. She was wearing white robes lined with gold like Demeter and Aphrodite. There was something in her eyes that Leo couldn't quite read as she looked at the demigods, but he was pretty sure he saw a flash of pride as she looked at her daughter.

Poseidon had the same eyes and hair as Percy. They were wrinkled in a smile, and he looked like one of those persons who grinned a lot. He was wearing khaki shorts and a simple Hawaii-shirt. Leo and Poseidon's eyes met, and he nodded just like Hephaestus had.

Ares was scary. His eyes were empty sockets with dangerous fire inside; not warm and nice like a bonfire, but sharp and terrifying. He was wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses pushed up on his head. He sized the demigods up, and Leo knew that he was trying to decide if any of them was a worthy fighter. Ares' gaze lingered on Percy and Annabeth, looking even angrier.

Artemis was beautiful and graceful. Her eyes were like silver moons, and her hair black as the night. She was looking like a teenager, perhaps a little younger than Leo, and she was wearing the same silver clothes as her Hunters. She reminded him of Thalia, and Leo actually smiled to her. She obviously didn't approve of it, but nodded politely.

Apollo was cool. He had blond hair and golden eyes shining like suns, casually sitting with his elbow on the arm of his chair and his chin resting in his hand. He was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, very casual, and he looked like one of those handsome young models in commercials for clothes. He made thumbs up to Leo when their eyes met, and they both grinned.

Hera was beautiful but in a very powerful way. She was kind of terrifying, her hair dark and her eyes glittering dangerously. She was wearing the same kind of white robes lined with gold as many of the other goddesses, but golden threads were braided in her hair. Her face was a mask as she looked at Leo.

Zeus looked grim. His eyes were electric blue, like Jason's and Thalia's, and his beard grey and white. He practically radiated power, and you could easily see that he was the leader. Leo didn't know how to react to his pinstriped suit, but it fit him in some way.

Dionysos looked bored. He was a chubby, with dark eyes and blond hair, wearing a messy Hawaii-shirt. He raised an eyebrow to the demigods, and Leo remembered that he didn't like halfbloods. But as he looked at Percy, something in his face changed and he nodded politely. Leo was surprised.

Even Hades was there, sitting in a dark throne. He was wearing dark robes that made his pale skin look like it was glowing creepily. His gaze was focused on Nico, his face as hard as stone but something Leo didn't catch flashing in his spooky eyes.

A girl, who looked like she was around 10 years old, with brown hair and very simple clothes was sitting next to the huge hearth in the middle of the hall. She was looking in to the fire, the warm dancing flames, and her eyes reflected it. At least Leo thought so, until she raised her head and smiled to them all. Her eyes were like Ares', but much nicer and cozier flames burning in them. Leo raised a hand and waved with a grin.

The hall was silent.

"Be welcome, demigods." Zeus voice rumbled, the sound rippling the silence in the hall. "I believe you all know who we are, and we know who you are, so let's save the introductions. We want to thank you for your great input in the second Giant War that just ended." He paused. "Could Perseus Jackson step forward?"

Percy didn't look nervous as he let go of Annabeth and stepped forward. He looked brave, like a true hero. Leo silently wondered how much stuff he had gone through to reach this point.

"My son." Poseidon started, smiling widely. Percy smiled back, looking comfortable as the god addressed him as his son, like they knew each other. Leo knew that many demigods never had met their parents at all, and this was surprising for him. "I've said this before, but I will say it again; I'm very proud of you. You've saved this world time after time, and never failed to help your friends and family. You should be proud of yourself. I'm proud of having you as my son, Percy."

Percy stepped back, happiness written all over his face. Most of the gods and goddesses were smiling toward him.

"Annabeth Chase." Zeus said.

Annabeth stepped forward. She didn't look nervous either, but as Athena turned to her, she didn't smile like Percy had when he saw Poseidon. But there was a kind of powerful connection between them; they understood each other on a different level, they _knew _each other, and it didn't need to be expressed with huge smiles and happy tears. Leo couldn't help but admire them.

"Annabeth, you've been so brave." Athena said, her voice not as cold as before and pride in her stormy eyes. "You're a true heroine. I couldn't have asked for a greater daughter."

Her speech was short but powerful. Annabeth straightened at her mother's words, and she smiled a little and then stepped back and linked her arm with Percy's. She looked a little tense, her eyes still on her mother with a hint of worry in them. Athena looked at the two of them for a second, but then she nodded. Annabeth relaxed visibly.

"Nico Di Angelo." Zeus looked at Nico urgently. The son of Hades nodded and stepped so he was facing his father.

Hades face didn't soften, but his eyes did just a little. Leo could just see Nico's back, and noticed it was tense.

"You've done many things, Nico." The god started. "You even made me see sense in the last Titan War. You helped your friends to the House of Hades. You're loyal but believe in yourself. I'm proud."

Nico's shoulders slumped in relief and he nodded, and as he turned back to the group of demigods, the faintest shadow of a smile crossed his face.

"Piper McLean." The sky god rumbled.

Piper was pale. Leo caught her gaze and tried to look calming, but was pretty sure he failed. He was just as nervous as her.

Anxiously, she took a step toward her mother's throne, looking at Aphrodite shyly. The love goddess flashed her daughter an amazing smile.

"Piper, you've never been like my other kids." Aphrodite started, her voice like music; there was sincerity in it that showed that she really cared. "You're just as beautiful as them, but you don't care. And you were one of the few of my children that realized that looks doesn't mean everything. Beauty isn't just how you look; it's how you're on the inside. That's what I'm about. You showed the rest of them that. You found true love. You used your ability to charmspeak for a good cause. I'm so proud of you."

Piper's smile matched Aphrodite's as she stepped back. She locked eyes with Leo, looking relieved and really happy. Leo grinned, momentarily forgetting that he had to speak with his father.

He didn't want to. Leo wasn't good with emotions, and neither was his father. He was perfectly satisfied with his father acknowledging him in the beginning with a nod. He didn't need to hear a speech about Hephaestus being proud of him. Leo knew he wasn't much to be proud of, and it really didn't matter; he just wanted to avoid the awkwardness he knew was waiting.

"Leo Valdez."

Leo stepped forward, his hands fiddling with some random things he plucked from his toolbelt. His fingers rapidly flew over the objects, pulling them together and disassembling them unbelievably fast.

Hephaestus had apparently put down his own stuff in his pockets, because his hands were empty as Leo raised his head to look at him. He didn't look nervous or awkward as he looked at his son; just determined. The rest of the gods were looking at them. Leo felt self-consciousness rush through him, and he resisted the urge to bolt.

"I'm not good at this." The words were simple, stating a fact that didn't really mattered to the god. He had never needed to be good at talking about emotions, because it wasn't something he did a lot, and confirming it before starting was something he felt like he needed to do to make sure that his son's feelings wouldn't get hurt.

Leo knew the feeling.

"So I'm just gonna be blunt." Hephaestus said, and stared straight in to Leo's eyes. "You thought your powers were a curse, Leo, because you had some bad experience with them. But you learned how to use them for a good cause, and you helped your friends even though you actually didn't want to use them. And that's," His father paused, and his dark eyes swelled with pride. "That's my son."

Leo was standing there, staring at the god, and there weren't any words to describe how he felt. What his father had said meant so much more than anything else he could have said. Leo couldn't speak, so he just stepped back and hoped Hephaestus knew how much it meant. Something in the god's eyes as he looked at Leo and nodded made him think that he actually did.

"We actually don't know how to reward you." Zeus admitted. "So tell us your wishes, and we'll do the best we can to make them true."

The demigods looked at each other, and a silent agreeing went through them. Percy stepped forward, his head raised and a bold glint in his eyes.

"We have only one desire, sir." He said.

Zeus raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"To, in some way, be able to keep meeting our friends in the other camp as often as possible."

Quiet murmurs were exchanged by the gods, and at last Zeus smashed his hands together.

"Since the other demigods had the exact same wish, we'll arrange it for you." His blue eyes were unreadable. "You may stay here on Olympus an hour more. Enjoy."

It was a kind of finality in Zeus' voice, and the demigods knew that it was over. They all turned and walked out from the huge hall.

* * *

"How did it go?"

Leo flinched and turned as Hazel spoke to him. She looked as pretty as always, but the godly power the city of Olympus radiated seemed to make her look on the verge on being a goddess herself.

"Good." Leo said and grinned nervously. "Where are the others?"

"They went to take a tour around the city." Hazel shrugged. "I thought you were going with them, but then I saw you sitting here..."

Leo grinned and patted the ground next to him to show her that she should sit down too. He was sitting outside the huge castle, his back leaning against the smooth, white walls and hugging his knees as he watched the city and all the happy people walking around there. It was all bathing in the golden light of the sun, the sky clear blue. It was like the nature itself was celebrating their victory in the war.

Hazel sat down, crossing her legs and regarding Leo curiously.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He replied and turned his head. "Why would you think otherwise?"

She chewed her lip adorably.

"You seem distant."

Hazel looked at him shyly, her cheeks traced with red in a very cute way. Her eyes looked golden, beautiful, as they met Leo's. His heart leapt.

"I've been thinking." He said slowly, and turned his head again to watch the city again. He caught a glimpse of his friends, laughing and talking, not noticing him. He was a little grateful; they couldn't come and ruin this moment. "Are we happy?"

"What do you mean?" Hazel seemed taken aback by the question.

"Are we happy?" Leo repeated. "The war is over. Everything will go back to how it should be. We _should_ be happy, but…" His voice faltered. He didn't really know what he was saying. "Shouldn't we be living our dreams now? We were all so close to the end. We can't underestimate life. Well, demigods always have known that danger's waiting just around the corner, but do we really understand that we don't have much time? Do we use our time in the best way possible?"

Hazel was quiet, and Leo realized how silly his words must have sounded. He blushed a little.

"I mean, everybody should be doing what they want right now. Do you think they do?" He simplified what he meant, and nodded down to the town, aiming for their friends.

"They're happy." Hazel said, her gaze lingering on the group of people. "Are you?"

Leo bit his lip. It was his moment of truth. He was scared, scared that she would hate him for eternity because of what he was going to do, but it was worth it.

He leaned forward, not too slow but not too fast. Hazel's eyes widened, but there wasn't any hate in them yet, and Leo hoped his uncertainty didn't show. They were nose to nose now, their breaths mingling, and he stopped. Hazel hadn't pushed him away, but it was her time to decide. Leo wouldn't kiss her without her giving him permission.

And then Hazel closed the gap and captured his lips in a soft kiss.

It was short, sweet, but enough. Leo had never felt so happy in his entire life.

As they parted, he was grinning like a madman and Hazel was smiling.

"Are _you_ happy?" Leo asked.

"Yes, I am." Hazel said sweetly. "I've never been happier, actually."

And then the couple kissed again, sitting outside the dwelling of the Olympians in the beaming sunlight, shining just as bright as the sun itself.

_**Okay, I'm not really satisfied with this.**_

_**It was very long compared to my other drabbles, it wasn't much Lazel, and I'm truly sorry for that. I tried to describe Olympus and the gods as good as possible. The song isn't that related to the text either, but it get me thinking of light and happiness and this idea just popped up in my head as I listened to it!**_

_**Hope you liked it anyway!**_


	11. Drabble 11 The Grey

_**Okay, so I'm in an angsty mood now and all the songs that are stuck in my head are sad or angry. I'm truly sorry, but you'll have to suffer through some sad drabbles now :/ I'm sorry! I really am! But these STUPID songs give my feels and UGH. I'll try writing some happy ones too so you won't hate me completely ;)**_

* * *

**The Grey – Icon For Hire**

_LEO_

* * *

It hurt to look at her.

The sharp pain that shot through Leo's heart didn't relent. It was like a knife, digging deeper into his soul, trying to break him permanently. Or maybe it just was a voice, screaming at him because he was so _stupid. _It could be fire; no, Leo was immune. Still, it burned; the coldness _burned._

_Painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain_

The word thrummed against his skull, never blurring with the rest of his thoughts. It was almost as clear as her name, and it shouldn't be that way, love shouldn't hurt like this, right? Love was _good. _Love was _happy_.

_No, _a faint voice in Leo's head whispered. _Love is war._

And it most definitely was: a war between sanity and insanity, between heart and head, between pain and happiness. So why did the pain always win?

It was his fault, he knew that. It was always his fault.

Hazel was unreachable. She was with Frank.

That wasn't the problem.

She was _happy._

Leo thought of his mom, of Percy and Annabeth. Three. Three people, one of who were dead and the rest in a huge pit of evil where it was barely possible to survive. And it was _his _fault. He had ruined their happiness. He couldn't do that to Hazel.

Everything he touched fell apart.

But he knew it wasn't just love. The guilt had blended with it, and now they were _one_. One painful, horrible feeling that would never leave him alone, no matter what.

It was all so new. He had never wanted to fall in love. There had been only one person he truly loved, and it was his mom; but she was gone. Of course he loved his friends, but that wasn't the same. But this love hit him with such force; he didn't remember_falling _in love, just suddenly realizing he loved her.

Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe he could turn his back and forget. Maybe he could avoid Hazel until the love transformed to hate.

Nothing could be more painful than this.

How cold had he become? He wanted to hate someone he loved, just because it hurt?

That thought just hurt more.

Then there was that streak of fear. Faint, but definitely there in the mix of love and guilt and _pain._ The fear of letting Hazel know. The fear of being judged by her. The fear of losing her - if he ever got her in the first place - because of something he had done. The fear of being caught in the grey.

No one knew but Frank, so it was pretty ironic. But Leo hadn't told him about the guilt; he had told him the story, the full story with the fire, but he had left out the emotions. Of course he had. No one knew about them but Leo – and Gaea.

Leo was standing on the edge of returning, leaving all of this and turning the back to his love; going back to the familiar ache after his mother, but nothing more. Or he could run away, run away from _everything_; from the ship, the quest, the pain, Hazel. There was really just one way to do that. And he didn't want to die.

He could also just let it go. Settle here. With the pain. Do nothing to ease it. Leo knew it would drive him insane, but it was an option.

Maybe it would help if he told Hazel. Maybe telling her would make it easier to bear. Or just worse, because she would hate him. Why would she want someone who had _killed his own mother_?! And she didn't even want him.

Leo was ashamed: ashamed of loving her. Ashamed of wanting something so impossible to reach. Something so lovely, something so delicate, but strong and _beautiful_. Ashamed of not being rational and smart. Ashamed of feeling so vulnerable.

He couldn't bring himself to look in to her eyes anymore. If they passed each other, the grin he forced to stay on his face all the time suddenly became more painful to wear. He would hurry away, because being close to her was like burning, and he wasn't immune to this kind of fire. If she would ever try to talk to him, he would pretend not to hear her. But that didn't work, because then she would touch his shoulder or arm to get his attention, and that hurt even more than hearing her voice. He cut the conversations short and practically ran when it was over.

Leo didn't sleep. He couldn't eat. He stayed up during the nights, steering, thinking. No, trying to push away the thoughts. Thinking of how to stop thinking of _her._

Maybe he imagined all this pain. No one of his friends had noticed anything was wrong. Well, they never did, anyway.

Only Hazel would look at him with concern in her eyes. Leo felt her gaze on him, but never raised his head and looked at her.

Though he still remembered the exact shade of the golden brown of her eyes.

* * *

"Leo!" Hazel grabbed his arm and turned him so that he was facing her. "Leo, I'm _talking _to you!"

Leo caught a glimpse of her face before being able to look away. It was painful.

"What's wrong?! Why are you acting like this, Leo?!" Her voice was angry, but restrained; there was more anger behind it. And a bit of hurt.

"What do you mean?" Leo mumbled, looking down at his hands that were fiddling with some nuts and bolts.

"Leo, you're _avoiding _me." Yep, definitely hurt now. "Why?! I know all this Sammy-business must be awkward for you, but why are you ignoring me?! What have I done?!"

In surprise, Leo raised his head and stared at her. He regretted it immediately, because the pain grew stronger, but he tried to ignore it.

Hazel was wearing an angry mask, but her eyes revealed all the hurt she really felt. She had let go of Leo's arm.

"_You _haven't done anything," he said, still a little surprised. "Why would you think that?"

She blinked a few times.

"But you were avoiding me. I thought …"

"It hasn't to do with you," Leo said flatly and turned away, because it grew too painful to look at her.

"What is it then?"

_Tell her._

_Don't._

_She has to know._

_She'll hate you._

_The pain will ease._

_**She'll hate you.**_

"I can't." Leo hadn't meant his voice to sound so hoarse. So vulnerable. "I can't, Hazel."

Why did he have to say her name?

"Leo." Hazel's voice was gentle now, and she placed a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't turn to look at her. "Why can't you look me in the eye?"

He hadn't expected the question, but this time he didn't look at her in surprise. He didn't answer.

Hazel let go of his shoulder, her voice angry again when she spoke.

"This is insane, Leo! I don't even know why you're avoiding me! I did something, right? What? Just tell me!"

There was a moment of absolute silence.

Leo didn't turn to watch her leave.

* * *

_**This was short. And sad. And angsty. Well, I warned you.**_

_**Thanks to cuteypuffgirl for requesting this song! It's really great.**_


	12. Drabble 12 Our Last Summer

**_Hi! Sorry for not writing in a while, but now I'm back! I've missed you guys :')_**

**_Thanks for the wonderful feedback! I truly love all of you. One day, I'll travel around the world, find you, and give each of you chocolate and a huge hug (wow, that's creepy…)_**

**_Now, I re-watched Mamma Mia a few days ago (I really love it) and when they started to sing this song, I thought of Lazel and BAM! I got a new idea for a drabble. Enjoy!_**

* * *

**Our Last Summer – Mamma Mia (Or Abba? I don't know…)**

_HAZEL_

* * *

_I can still recall  
Our last summer  
I still see it all_

* * *

_"Hi, Haze."_

_"Don't call me that."_

_"I've missed you, too."_

_Hazel couldn't bite back a smile as she saw Leo's familiar face hovering above her, his mouth wide in a grin and eyes glittering teasingly._

_A jolt of pure happiness surged through her, and she jumped up and threw her arms around him. Leo laughed and backed a few steps in surprise when she forcefully threw herself on him, but then his arms were around Hazel in a warm hug. She inhaled the familiar smell of machine oil and smoke, and sighed happily._

_"I've missed you a lot," he said._

_"Me, too." Hazel held him a little tighter. "Me, too."_

_"Now, let me look at you for a sec." Leo put his hands on Hazel's shoulders and pulled away with a huge grin, his eyes roaming over her face. "Yep, you're the same."_

_Hazel laughed._

_"What did you think? It was just a few months ago, dork."_

_Leo shrugged, but his grin never wavered._

_"It felt longer."_

_His cheeks were tinged with red, and she felt her own face heat a little._

_"You're the same to," Hazel noted quickly._

_"What? I've grown! I'm taller now!" Leo pouted._

_She smiled. There was a bubbly feeling in her belly like, balls bouncing around happily in there, making her bouncy, too. It felt good._

_Leo grinned widely. Hazel hadn't realized how much she had missed him until now; she had been so busy with trying to convince Octavian (with Jason and Frank's help) and Reyna that the campers from Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood needed to meet up. It had taken far too long, but the stubborn praetors had eventually given in. She could meet her friends again, and as soon as she had realized that, she sent Leo an Iris Message and told him to meet her in a park close to Camp Jupiter. Not just because she wanted to meet him, but she had something really important she needed to tell him._

_"What is it?" Leo must have noticed her thoughtful expression._

_Hazel smiled again._

_"Nothing. I just… I can't believe this is happening. Octavian and Reyna – Well, mostly Octavian – were so stubborn. It almost seemed like they wouldn't let us meet."_

_"It's okay now," Leo reassured. "All the campers in Camp Half-Blood are thrilled to meet you guys. The meeting's in a few days, right?"_

_"Next week." Her eyes glittered. "I can't wait to see Nico, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper again. How are they?"_

_"Just fine. They can't wait either."_

_There was a moment of silence. Hazel couldn't decide if it was awkward or not; everything seemed so weird with Leo. With Sammy, she had been ultra-comfortable, but he was Leo's great-grandfather, and it was all a mess._

_But she had made up her mind, and she knew it was the right decision now she saw Leo standing in front of her._

_"Why did you want to see me today?" Leo asked suddenly, his voice curious and his eyes searching in Hazel's face. "As you said, the meeting isn't that far away. I'm sure you could've waited for a while."_

_Hazel bit her lip._

_"I have something to tell you."_

_Leo raised an eyebrow._

_"I -" The words were hard to say. They felt so wrong on her tongue. "I broke up with Frank."_

_This time, his eyebrows shot up high on his forehead. His eyes widened._

_"Wh - " He stopped. "Was it hard?"_

_She inhaled. _Had_ it been hard? Yes, of course. She loved Frank. But he had understood, and that had made it all much easier for her. He had known already, expected it, so his reaction wasn't so horrible. He still wanted to be friends, though. Hazel smiled a little, and Leo stared at her._

_"A little. But he understood."_

_"But – why?"_

_She wet her lips."It didn't feel right anymore. We both… We didn't love each other the way we used to." Her eyes flickered to Leo's. "Some… things happened."_

_Leo's eyes widened and his mouth formed a small 'o'. Guilt flashed in his eyes._

_"Was it the whole me/Sammy-thing? I'm so sorry, Hazel, I didn't mean to – "_

_Hazel blinked._

_"What?"_

_He looked down and refused to meet her gaze._

_"It was my fault, right? I'm so stupid. I don't really _like _Frank, but I never wanted-"_

_"No, no, Leo, it wasn't your fault!" Hazel interrupted. She reached out and clasped his hand. His head snapped up and he looked in to her eyes doubtfully. "It just didn't work anymore. It hasn't anything with you to do. Really."_

_Leo still looked unconvinced._

_"Seriously? Because it's okay for you to blame me if it was my fault, I –"_

_"No." She stopped him, her voice gentle and her thumb slowly drawing patterns on his hand. "I mean it. It wasn't your fault. Ask Frank, if you want to."_

_He relaxed a little, and his eyes flickered to their intertwined hands. Hazel felt her cheeks color, but she didn't let go. Their eyes met for a brief second, and she smiled. Leo grinned._

_It was crazy how happy one person can make you._

* * *

_Laughing in the rain  
Our last summer  
Memories that remain_

* * *

_"It's raining like crazy!" Leo gasped, grinning widely as they ran._

_It was dark, partly because of the storm clouds and partly because of the night's arrival. The moon was just a sliver of silver, hanging on the sky and shining faintly. A few stars twinkled playfully, very faint and often disappearing behind the clouds. But the city was almost empty, since most people had gone home to avoid the heavy rain._

_Leo and Hazel were already soaked. Their running footsteps echoed against the ground, splashing water up to their arms if they accidently stepped in puddles of cold water._

_Hazel shivered as the cool wind caressed her wet skin. They weren't dressed for this weather; it had been sunny just an hour ago. They didn't even have anything to hold above their heads to protect them from the cold, merciless rain._

_"Gods, we should have brought an umbrella," Leo cursed under his breath. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you come out with me."_

_"You never stop, huh?"_

_Leo stopped and turned at Hazel's sour words. He looked surprised._

_"What?"_

_"Blaming yourself," she muttered. "You blame yourself for everything."_

_Hazel wasn't angry, just tired. She was stating a fact. A flicker of relief passed in Leo's eyes as he realized she wasn't angry, and he grinned._

_"You_ _never stop telling me it's _not_ my fault," he teased._

_Something that had been nagging in the back of her mind flickered to life and started to intensify. Something she had denied too long. The real reason to why it didn't work with Frank; the real reason to why she spent so much time with Leo nowadays._

_And even though it was confusing, and embarrassing, and strange, Hazel knew she had to tell Leo. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. What did she have to lose?_

_Looking at his happy, teasing face, Hazel realized that it was quite a lot. She didn't want to lose her friendship with Leo because of her feelings for him. He would take it as her missing Sammy, and that would just hurt him. But was it feelings for Sammy or Leo?_

_Leo. It was Leo. She finally felt like she was over Sammy now. She would always remember him, always love him, but maybe stop regret her dead. Maybe stop wishing she stayed and lived happily ever after with him._

_"What if I, just this time, told you something actually _is _your fault?"_

_Startled, Leo stared at her. He must have heard how restrained and nervous the joke sounded. After all, it wasn't a joke. But his surprise quickly turned to worry, and pain and guilt flickered in his eyes._

_"What do you mean? What have I done?"_

_Hazel felt the nervousness inside her rise, blocking her throat, not letting her get out the words she was wanting and dreading to tell him. They were standing face to face; both completely unaware of the raindrops smashing in to them or the dark, empty streets that otherwise might have scared them._

_"Me and Frank breaking up: your fault," she managed to say._

_Leo's eyes widened even more, and Hazel regretted saying it immediately. He looked so pained._

_This sorrow for him made her throat clear again. She wanted to hurry to tell him the whole thing, so he would get that it wasn't bad – not _that _bad. It was a joke, really._

_"Why?" he asked, his voice hoarse._

_Hazel wet her lips._

_"Because I fell in love with you, instead."_

_And she stepped forward, closed her eyes and leaned forward. Leo's hot breath mingled with hers, and for a moment she stopped - waited for him to stop her – but he didn't and she closed the distance._

_It was short and sweet, almost just a peck, but Hazel had never felt her heart pound that fast. She pulled away and opened her eyes nervously, waiting for Leo's reaction._

_"_Me?" _Leo asked disbelievingly._ _His eyes were wide and he looked really surprised, but there was a smile tugging at his lips. Hazel felt her shoulders slump in relief._

_"You," she repeated, smiling._

_Leo's face broke in to a full grin, and he stepped forward to kiss her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Everything around them disappeared; the rain, the cold air, the darkness. Because in his arms, she was safe and warm._

_When they pulled away again, Hazel felt wild with happiness. Laughter bubbled in her throat, demanding to come out. The sound escaped her mouth, and just a moment later, she was doubling over._

_At first, Leo stared at her in confusion, but a smile slowly spread on his face too._

_Soon, they were both laughing, happily dancing around in the water falling from the sky and floating on the ground._

* * *

_We made our way along the river  
And we sat down in the grass_

* * *

_"Leo, what are we doing here?" Hazel laughed as Leo pulled her along the riverbank._

_It was a beautiful day. The sky was clear blue with only a few clouds visible, and the air was warm but not too hot. The green grass on the ground tickled the bare parts of their sandal-wearing feet. Clear water, reflecting the blue sky and therefore looking blue itself, made its way through the park._

_Leo spotted a tree close to the riverbank, and his eyes narrowed. Hazel watched him carefully as he dragged her with him there and pushed her down on the ground._

_"Leo!" she screamed, but she was too happy and too curious to be angry._

_He just grinned. Hazel wondered what was going on for the thousand time since that morning._

_In the shadow of the huge tree, the air was a little cooler. Green leafs was lying on the grass here and there, moving a little with the lukewarm wind._

_"Hazel Levesque," Leo cleared his throat, grinned and bowed. Hazel laughed. "I, Leo Valdez, have a question for thee."_

_Hazel raised an eyebrow amusedly. A faint shadow of nervousness crossed Leo's face._

_"I wonder if you would want to be…" He paused dramatically. "My girlfriend!"_

_He grinned again and looked at her, still a little anxiety flickering in his eyes._

_"I thought I made that clear when I kissed you," Hazel said playfully and rolled her eyes._

_Leo's smile widened, and he sunk down on the grass too. He lay down next to Hazel and propped himself up on his elbows, looking at her with glittering eyes._

_Hazel leaned down and pecked his lips, before straightening and looking at the slow, swift movements of the river. Leo followed her gaze._

_"Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked, his voice restrained as if holding back laughter. Hazel knew he was trying to sound smart, and she laughed and elbowed him in the side, making him lose balance and falling down._

_"Ouch," Leo complained. "Girlfriends don't do that to their boyfriends."_

_"Well, we're an extraordinary couple, aren't we?" Hazel said teasingly and lay down next to her boyfriend. He gripped her hand._

_"Yes, I think so, too."_

* * *

_Living for the day,  
Worries far away  
Our last summer,  
We could laugh and play_

* * *

_"I love you."_

_The words came suddenly, cutting through the comfortable silence of the blissful moment. They were rushed, but not in a way like the speaker just wanted to get it over with; no, in nervousness and eagerness to get them out._

_Hazel turned and stared at Leo with wide eyes. He didn't look away like he usually did when he was nervous, but his hands, which were fiddling with some nuts and bolts, betrayed him. But he looked certain, and he looked his girlfriend right in the eyes._

_There was a moment of absolute silence, before Hazel realized what he actually had said. What he meant with those words._

_Her head began to spin, and she felt a bubbling sensation in her belly that might have warned for sickness in another moment. But she was happy, so happy that her heart was bursting, and she really hoped Leo could see that in her eyes because she couldn't bring herself to move, even for a smile._

_"I love you, too," she whispered._

_Leo's hands stopped moving, and his brilliant eyes brightened. His face broke in to a huge grin, and he looked beautiful._

_Suddenly Hazel could move again, and she leaned forward and attached her lips to his, trying to show what she was feeling with just a kiss. Because "I love you" didn't really cover what she felt; it was so much more._

_Something told her that Leo felt the same._

* * *

_But underneath, we had a fear of flying  
Of growing old, the fear of slowly dying  
We took a chance  
Like we were dancing our last dance_

* * *

"What are you thinking about?" Someone stepped forward, next to Hazel.

"Nothing," she said, trying to sound nonchalant.

The other boy was quiet.

"You miss him," he said at last. It wasn't a question; it was a statement, and his voice made it clear that he knew that it was true.

Hazel sighed. She had cried out all the tears, but talking about him still felt like a blade made of pure pain slicing through her heart. It hurt.

"I will always miss him."

"I know."

He didn't say anything else.

"I'm thinking of our last summer," she said quietly. "It was perfect. Too good to be true. I should've realized."

"Not your fault," he mumbled quietly.

"I know."

Silence.

"I love you," Hazel said at last, her voice a little hoarse.

"I love you, too, Haze."

She thought of the nickname. Her mother had called her that when she was younger, but she hadn't told anyone. Leo had thought he came up with it himself, and Nico had snapped it up from him.

"You're not going to complain?" Nico asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"No," his sister sighed. "I guess I can live with you calling me it. I've actually missed it, actually."

"Of course," he said.

Hazel knew he understood.

* * *

_How dull it seems  
Are you the hero of my dreams?_

* * *

**_To those who didn't quite understand; Hazel and Leo got together, was together for a summer, and then Leo… um… left. You can think of it in any way you want. Anyway, the last part is a conversation between Nico and Hazel about Leo. You can decide yourself how long it's after Leo's "disappearance". So, everything in italics is memories._**

**_Sorry if the parts from the song aren't in order._**

**_Hope you liked it! Please review!_**


	13. Drabble 13 Say

**_Thank you so much for the reviews! I love all of you._**

**_Now, I thought I should take some time and answer some people's comments here:_**

**_Some Awsome Person: I'm sure he didn't leave on purpose; Leo would never do anything to hurt Hazel. That he left can also mean that he died._**

**_that'sthe411: Thank you :) I'm sorry for making you sad :(_**

**_Audrey199: I'm sorry, but these are only oneshots. I would like to, but I already have one long story named Too Complicated. You can find it on my profile if you wanna check it out :)_**

**_lady haleycakes: Thank you so much for your kind words! :) Um, recommendations, you say? I personally love all cuteypuffgirl's Lazel-fanfictions, so check them out on her profile! (I hope it's okay I recommended your stories, cuteypuffgirl?)_**

**_I'm a huge Glee-fan, and they sang this song on Glee recently, and I thought it kinda fitted Lazel too, so here we go :) It's a very beautiful song; I have been listening to it non-stop since I heard it CX I hope you'll like it._**

* * *

**Say – John Mayer**

_LEO_

"You know, it's all over tomorr_o_w. We succeed, or die."

"Wow, that's _exactly_ what I want to hear right now."

"No, I'm serious, Leo. This is the end."

"Didn't they think it was the end in the second Titan War? But here we are again. It'll never end."

"Well, maybe we'll need to fight again like the others, but this is still an end too. Just because you know you're gonna have dinner later, it doesn't mean the lunch doesn't have an end."

Leo sighed.

"What's the point of this, Piper? I'm very aware of the high risk that we might die tomorrow. Everybody is."

"Yeah, but I don't think you really understand what this means." Piper turned away from the railing she had been casually leaning against and faced Leo with a serious expression. "How was it when your mother died?"

Abruptly, Leo's hands, that were flying all over the helm to see that everything was perfectly fine, stopped. First, it was just plain surprise; had he told Piper? Oh, right, she knew, but not the horrifying part with the fire.

Then that imaginable blade started to slowly tug at his heart, and the pain kicked in. Not that intensive; it still hurt, the guilt still burned, but it was a little clouded by the surprise and the fact that he had a lot of other things to think about. But of course it still hurt. It was a shadow in his head, impossible to miss, and he just waited like a one-man army for it to come forward. Tried to fight it, but ended up living out the same old moment without being able to stop the memory replaying in his head. And a small part of him knew it was his own fault; if he just stopped blaming himself, that shadow would just let go.

That hurt, too; knowing that he was better off instead, but not being able to let go. Because letting go meant he would _accept _his mother's death, and he didn't want to accept anything about it. Leo didn't want to blame anyone else, or no one, when it was only his fault.

"Um, what do you mean?" He avoided Piper's gaze. Maybe she knew that he had lied to her. After all, they had known each other for long.

Honestly, it didn't feel like it. She was so busy with Jason nowadays, Leo felt like they were floating away from each other. It was pretty sad, and of course it wasn't fun to be left out, but he was used to it. It didn't hurt anymore. Leo was really surprised that she had come to talk to him at all. It was nighttime, faint stars dotting the sky and the moon almost full. Almost, but not really.

"It was unexpected, right?" Piper was still looking at him. "No one of you knew. What was the last thing you said to her?"

Wow, that was unexpected. In sheer surprise, Leo turned to her.

"What? Why do you want to know?"

Piper's serious expression softened.

"You don't need to answer. But you regret them, right? The words, I mean. Now when you think back, you wish you had said something else the last time you talked to her."

The hand that was curled to a fist turned clammy and sweaty as Leo made it harder. He really didn't want to have this conversation right now. Or later. Or ever.

"What's your point?" Leo said sternly.

Piper surely noticed his unhappiness with the topic, but she casually turned her head and gazed at the sky. Her eyes seemed blue right now, but after spending so much time with her (well, at least before the quest), Leo knew that they changed all the time.

"I just… If we die tomorrow, I wouldn't want to not have said what I really want to say to my friends and family. I wouldn't want my last words to them to be something like 'good night' or 'I'm gonna take a snack'."

"We'll probably talk tomorrow too, you know," Leo reminded her, his hand still balled up in a fist uncomfortably hard.

She turned and looked him right in the eyes.

"The last ones that _mattered. _I just… I just want to make sure everybody say what they need to say to the people they love."

Her eyes searched in Leo's face. Did Piper know? His cheeks went a little red and he looked away.

"She deserves to know," Piper added softly.

Yup, Piper _definitely_ knew.

"I don't wanna make her uncomfortable," Leo explained weakly. "And she's happy with Frank. I don't wanna ruin that."

"Leo, you won't ruin anything. She can decide who she wants to be with. And you can make it clear that you still want to be her friend even though she doesn't like you the way you like her." Piper reached out and clasped one of his hands softly.

Maybe she had used charmspeak, or maybe it just was the words, but Leo felt soothed. The ache eased a little.

"Still," he said, chewing his lip, "it's already awkward between us. I don't wanna make it worse."

"Would you really want to die, knowing that she never got to know?"

Piper's eyes bored in to his, brutally honest. Pretty, but harsh_._ Leo swallowed.

No, he didn't want that.

"Say what you need to say," she said quietly. "Have no fear for giving in. In the end, it's better to say too much than to never say what you need to say again." Piper squeezed his hand and then let go, turned and walked away. Her steps echoed against the floor as she left the deck.

Leo took a deep breath.

* * *

"Leo?" What's wrong?" Hazel asked, her voice nervous.

Leo had sneaked in to her cabin, woke her up and asked her if she could come with him. Adorably sleepy and very worried, Hazel had agreed. Now they were standing on the deck, and the words Piper had said to him just half an hour ago echoed in his head.

"Leo? Please tell me what's wrong."

He actually managed to grin nervously.

"Nothing's wrong, really. I just…" He started to fiddle with some nuts and bolts from his toolbelt, avoiding her beautiful golden eyes. "I just needed to talk to you."

Leo could feel Hazel looking at him, and forced himself to meet her gaze. She looked half curious, half worried, her hair messy and still wearing a nightgown, but with a cardigan over it. She was hugging herself to protect herself from the cold.

_Hurry up._

"I - " He had no idea how to start. He inhaled deeply. "Um, you know that my mom is… dead."

Hazel's face was a mixture of pity and confusion. Leo had to resist the urge to bolt. Why did he start that way? He didn't want any pity. Now, she would just see the poor boy without a mom every time she looked at him. Leo didn't want that.

But there was no way back now. He had to say what he needed to say before it was too late. He knew how much he would regret not telling Hazel how much he liked her if anyone of them died.

"She died because of me." Leo's throat was dry as he said the words that always had burned inside him, but he never really had admitted to anyone else.

Hazel's eyes widened.

"Leo, no, I'm sure you wouldn't…" She stopped, and something in Leo loosened as he watched her. His eyes softened. She didn't know anything, but she was ready to protest. She was so nice, gentle, and it was just heartbreaking that her life was in danger. Hazel didn't deserve this. Actually, no one of the demigods in the crew did. No one of them deserved to die. Well, but maybe Leo; he had killed someone else, so why should he live? And (this reason was just selfish) maybe he could reunite with his mom down there.

"Just listen," he said and licked his lips self-consciously. "I was eight years old. We were leaving her machine shop, and she realized she had forgotten her keys, so she ran back. But then Gaea came and locked her in, and said she was gonna kill her. My hands caught fire, but I couldn't control it, and the fire killed my mother." Leo swallowed. Why did it still hurt to talk about it? It was years ago. It was in the past.

Hazel looked agitated.

"Then it wasn't your fault. It was Gaea," she said fiercely and shook her head. Her passion put a small smile on Leo's face, but it quickly dissolved as he continued.

"Gaea wouldn't have come there in the first place if it wasn't for me." The memory flashed by again; the goddess' sleepy, evil smile; the agony and desperation; the bright flames. His hands begun to shake, and he felt so _stupid, _because this wasn't necessary; he shouldn't think of his mother, he was wasting time, he had to tell Hazel _now._

"But that's not important; the important thing is…" Leo paused, and looked right in to Hazel's eyes, "that we didn't see it coming. We didn't have any chance to say goodbye. I couldn't tell her how much I really loved her."

Leo's voice broke, and he had to take a deep breath. Hazel didn't interrupt; her eyes were shining with unreleased tears, and her expression reflected real sympathy.

It was silly; every one of his friends would react the same. They would all care and understand. But still, Hazel was the only he was ready to tell about this. And, well, Frank; but Leo hadn't told him about the guilt. Hazel was the only one who knew the whole truth. Leo suddenly felt very exposed.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat, "what I'm trying to tell you is that I regret that, and I would never want to let someone I love, or myself, die without telling them _how_ much I love them."

Leo felt himself blush and had to look down at his hands, that were still fiddling with the nuts and bolts, constantly attaching them to each other and building small things just to take apart them again.

"Okay." Hazel said softly.

_Say what you need to say._

Leo felt like he was opening up his heart, saying the words his mouth was about to form with a wide, open heart. Exposed, but not scared.

"I know it's weird between us," he begun. He raised his head and looked at Hazel nervously, who looked just as nervous. She was blushing too. "With the Sammy-thing. And I know you're happy with Frank. You have to understand that I don't wanna ruin that, but you have to know this because if any of us dies tomorrow, I'm sure I'll regret this for eternity, and I don't wanna regret anything more."

Hazel looked paralyzed, and Leo felt his self-consciousness growing. He would ruin it all. Why did he have to do that? He had already ruined his mother's life. And he had sent Percy and Annabeth to Tartarus. Who said he had the right to ruin Hazel's too? He was just cruel by doing this. He looked away guiltily.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, brokenly. "I'm really sorry, because I have no right to be in love with you, but I am, and I'm so sorry, Hazel."

Leo didn't dare to meet her gaze.

"Leo, look at me."

Her voice was soft. Surprise washed over Leo. She was supposed to hate him. Why didn't she?

So he looked up.

Hazel's eyes were glittering, the corners of her mouth quirked up in a soft, small smile. She didn't look angry, or hateful. Leo just felt confused and overwhelmed, staring at her with wide eyes. His head was throbbing.

"It's okay. I - " She looked troubled. "I really like you, too, but I don't want to hurt you." Hazel looked at him, chewing her lip adorably and Leo couldn't believe that this was happening. "With all this Sammy-business… and Frank. It's not fair." Pain flashed in her eyes.

And then all self-consciousness and nervousness drained out of Leo. He just felt an overwhelming desire to hug Hazel and never let go, just protect her from the war that was coming closer and closer by the hour. She looked so sad and guilty that everything inside Leo screamed _wrong, _because she shouldn't feel any pain at all.

Slowly, he reached out and clasped her hand. Hazel looked surprised, her eyes flickering from their intertwined hands to Leo's face, a small blush on her cheeks. Leo smiled softly; not like that old, usual grin that he used when he joked or when he wanted to cover up the pain inside, but a smile that were just pure _caring _and not happiness or joking.

"Frank really loves you. He would just want you happy," Leo quieted. "Me, too."

"It's still not fair to love two people at once." Hazel protested weakly. "I'll always love Sammy, and Frank knows that, but he's gone. This isn't right. It's not fair to any of you, Leo."

Leo squeezed her hand.

"Don't think about it, okay? You – You'll figure it out soon enough. Just make sure you do what _you _wanna do; don't do something just to make sure Frank or anyone else doesn't get hurt. Because they will understand." _Leo _would understand. "Okay?"

She looked uncertain, but then her face lit up in a small smile.

"This is all very strange. I never thought I would be on a quest to save the world with Sammy's great-grandson."

"Don't think about it. It'll all be okay," Leo insisted, but he smiled a little too. "Just focus on staying alive tomorrow, okay? No one should die because of someone as stupid as Gaea. And go get some sleep."

Hazel squeezed his hand.

"Okay."

As she left, Leo felt strange. He didn't know what he was feeling, really. But he had accomplished what he had wanted; Hazel knew. He wouldn't need to regret not letting her know if he (or gods forbid, she) died tomorrow. And maybe she would choose him. It was her choice, and honestly he just wanted her to be as happy as possible.

Leo made a mental note to thank Piper tomorrow, checked that the sonar was on, and left deck to go to sleep.

* * *

**_I don't really know how this turned out. I hadn't planned the ending; it just happened. Yeah. Please review and tell me what you think! Love y'alls!_**


	14. Drabble 14 It's Not Unusual

**_Oh gods, I'm SO sorry for not having written anything for so long!_****_Gods, I'm terrible at updating. I'm so, so, SO sorry, really. I've been so busy. I hate school. _**

**_Anyway, this song is awesome and I'm pretty sure the drabble should be happy enough to fit X'3 Hope you'll like it._**

* * *

**It's Not Unusual – Tom Jones**

_LEO_

* * *

"I'm _not _going on that thing."

"Come on!"

"Leo, I'm not going!"

The two demigods were standing in an amusement park, crowded with chattering people with huge smiles and delicious food and stuffed teddy bears in their arms. A queue to the biggest roller coaster ended just next to them, no one paying any attention to their small argumentation.

"But it's _fuuuuuun._" Leo said, drawing out the "u" for more effect and pouting a little. "It's just a roller coaster, Hazel, it's not that bad."

"I'm not going on that _roller coaster. _Look, it's really high up in the air-"

"You were fine at the _Argo II_ a year ago."

"-and it goes so fast-"

"My ship went much faster and you were okay."

"I'll get nauseous!" Leo opened his mouth to protest, but Hazel shot him a death-glare (and seriously, a normal death-glare isn't the same as when the daughter of the god of the Underworld does it).

"Don't you dare saying that I was fine at the _Argo II_, because I was seasick all the time, and you _know_ it."

Leo opened and closed his mouth a few times under Hazel's fierce glare, until he finally sighed.

"Well, then. Let's go." He started taking a step to the other direction.

Hazel looked puzzled.

"You don't want to go on the roller coaster?"

"What? No." Leo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Not if you're not coming."

For a moment, Hazel just looked confused, but then her golden eyes softened and she touched Leo's arm. It was unbelievable that it still sent a jolt of electricity through him, even though they had been dating for almost a year.

"I can't stop you from going. You should go."

Leo tried to come up with a good way to reply, a nice comment or a fond roll of his eyes to show that it wasn't important, but instead decided to be evil and take the situation to his advantage.

His face broke in to a grin.

"Only if you come with me."

Hazel's eyes widened and she stared at Leo with such force that he immediately regretted his words.

"I cannot _believe _you said that. I already told you, I'm not going!"

"C'mon, Hazel, it's just a roller coaster. It'll be really fun, and it'll be over fast. Why come to an amusement park if you're not gonna go on any rides?"

"You dragged me here; I never said I wanted to come here or go on any rides." She reminded him.

Leo sighed.

"Then I'm not going."

Hazel's eyes traveled to the roller coaster, just as the cart flied down the track in high speed, filled with screaming people. Leo didn't miss the way she swallowed and her eyes widened before they got back to him.

"You should go if you want to, but I'm not coming with you."

"I'm not coming if you don't accompany me."

"I'll wait here while you ride."

"_I'll _wait until you change your mind."

"I won't."

"Me neither."

They stood there, staring at each other, arms crossed and expressions serious. But then Leo couldn't hold back the grin anymore, and his mask cracked. Hazel still looked serious, though.

"It's not dangerous, you know. Millions of people go on them, and there's never any accidents." Leo scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Um, no accidents _I've_ heard of, at least."

Hazel rolled her eyes.

"That's reassuring, since you pay _so _much attention to what's happening in this world."

"Well – wait, was that an insult? Am I supposed to know exactly how many people die in roller coaster-accidents?"

"No, and it doesn't matter right now. I'm not going."

"Yes, you are."

"I'm. Not. Going."

"It's fun, and you'll forget all fear you feel for it right now as soon as you're in the cart."

"Who said I was _scared_?!"

"Um, I just assumed-"

"Excuse me; are you standing in the queue?"

Leo and Hazel both turned at the unexpected voice. A blonde guy was standing behind them, looking apologetic but impatient. Leo blinked.

"What? No, no." Hazel said quickly. "We're just about to leave."

The guy nodded and stepped past them, and they moved out of the way. Leo and Hazel followed him with their gazes until a group of snickering girls went to stand in queue too, the guy disappearing from the demigods' field of view.

"Okay." Leo blinked a few times, his eyebrows furrowed while he tried to remember what they had been chatting about before the abrupt interruption. "Um, right – if you're not scared, why don't you wanna go?"

"I'm just not a fan of heights or speed, really." Hazel explained, the explanation weak but her voice sharp and her eyes fierce as she looked at Leo. "And I don't want to throw up on our date."

Leo felt warmth spread in his body at the word _date_, but then snapped back to reality. He let his gaze sweep around the amusement park; the candy stands, the games, the rides…

"Tell you what. I'll win you a huge teddy bear if you'll come with me."

Hazel rolled her eyes firmly.

"Those things are ridiculous. Why would I want one?"

"Um, they're cute?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't need one, so it's just a waste of money."

Leo groaned.

"I thought all girls liked plush toys."

His girlfriend raised an eyebrow, her eyes teasing.

"Am I like _all _girls?" She joked lightly, but Leo saw her eyes flicking to the roller coaster multiply times. He grinned.

"If you don't go on the roller coaster with me, you're not going to be like _all_ girls. You'll be like all the _boring_ girls."

Hazel returned his attention fully to him, eyes ablaze. Leo resisted the urge to gulp and run.

"What did you say?"

"Come with me." Leo said urgently.

"I've already said it: no!" His girlfriend looked angry, but then she turned her gaze to the roller coaster, and he knew that she was considering it.

Eyes softening, Leo clasped her hand. She looked at him in surprise.

"I'll hold your hand up there." He said gently. "I'll bring a bag you can throw up in, if you have to."

He practically saw Hazel's defenses crumbling, and she looked between the roller coaster and him a few times before nodding hesitantly.

Leo resisted the urge to fistpump and yell out his triumph. Hand in hand, they stepped in to the queue.

Hazel glared at him.

"If I fall, and you don't catch me, I swear, Valdez…"

Something in Leo's mind clicked, a memory replaying in his head of his first quest with Piper and Jason.

_"If I fall, you're catching me."_

_"You're catching me too, Superman, but I ain't holding your hand."_

He grinned, because back then he had been lonely and so much sadder than he was now. He hadn't had anyone's hand to hold. He hadn't had _Hazel. _

"What are you grinning about?" She asked, annoyed.

Leo leaned forward and pecked her cheek, catching her by surprise.

"You."

* * *

**_Short, silly, cheesy, pretty bad, but I feel so bad for not publishing anything for so long and I made this in a rush. I hope you can forgive me; I have so much homework AND a stupid case of writer's block. I'm sorry :( At least the song is amazing. _**


	15. Drabble 15 Imagine

**_Hi guys! I'm really sorry for not writing lately, but I've been busy with school. It's stupid: I'm studying and studying and working and working, and still my grades are much worse than last year. When did it all get so hard? Why spend so much time on school and stuff if it never works anyway, when I can spend the time writing or having a good time while I'm not an adult yet instead?_**

**_Yeah, anyway, that's not important. I have this loooong list of songs I want to do for Lazel Song-Drabbles, some of them sad and some of them not, but so I'm not going to accept any song requests for a while. I hope that's okay._**

**_I'm starting with this amazing classic, which I'm totally in love with. It might not be a love song, but it doesn't matter._**

**_Read and review! :)_**

* * *

**Imagine – John Lennon**

_HAZEL_

* * *

"Hi," Hazel said and groaned quietly as she dumped down hard on the ground next to Leo. "Gods, I'm _so _tired."

The last days had been hectic and exhausting; the Giant War was over, but both camps had been damaged very badly, especially the Greek one since Reyna had attacked. Now the Romans were calmed down and had (not too eagerly) apologized, but that didn't make the damage on Camp Half-Blood any less worse. They were all currently split in two groups, each working on a camp. Some Greek demigods had gone with some Romans to Camp Jupiter, and roughly the same number demigods had stayed at Camp Half-Blood, where Reyna also were to speak to Chiron and plan the demigods' future. Leo and Hazel were both staying in the Greek camp, just as Percy, Annabeth and Nico, but Frank, Piper and Jason had gone to Camp Jupiter.

Building up the camps, trying to figure out how to deal with the whole Roman/Greek demigods-business, helping the gods (who were more torn than ever between their two aspects, and at the same time put a very powerful mist over the mortals after everything that happened), trying to find a way to put the Athena Parthenos back in the Parthenon and explain how it suddenly came back to the mortals, and much, much more was terribly tiring. Whenever the campers had any free time, they spent it sleeping or resting.

"I know," Leo agreed absently, not looking at Hazel. She didn't even notice; she was too busy taking off her shoes and rubbing her sore feet.

"So, how's building going?" Hazel asked, finally turning her head to smile weakly at her friend. "Is it as exhausting as assisting Reyna and trying to calm her down all the time?"

Leo shrugged half-heartedly, still looking distracted, and Hazel scowled lightly.

"Leo? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." This time, he turned to look at her briefly, and he looked genuinely fine. Maybe a little tired, but everyone was.

"Okay," Hazel said, still a little suspicious. "So, how is the building going then?"

"Great. Most of the cabins are done. I Iris-Messaged Nyssa yesterday, and she says that almost all buildings in New Rome are fixed now."

"Good."

They sat in silence, Hazel eyeing Leo suspiciously as he silently gazed at the sky. It was strange that he was so quiet, and as she followed his gaze, all she saw was the endless, blue roof that always surrounded the world.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked and nudged him playfully as she realized she couldn't just read what he was thinking in his face. Leo flinched, as he had forgotten she was there, and then smiled slightly, still not looking at her.

"Why do you want to know?"

Now slightly annoyed, Hazel sighed.

"Because you're spacing out and I want to know why. Are you sick?"

"No. I just have a lot on my mind," he said distractedly.

She looked at him pointedly, until his shoulders slumped slightly and acknowledged her that she had won.

Leo took a deep breath, shifted a little, eyes still not leaving the sky. His hands were plucking random nuts and bolts from his toolbelt, and he unfolded his legs under him and stretched them on the grass. The sun shining on his face made his eyes twinkle.

"Do you ever think of how the world would be without all of… this?"

Hazel furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, her fingers twisting a straw of grass absently as she looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I - " he stopped and sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "Imagine a world where everything was perfect. Imagine all the people living life in peace. Is it that hard to do?"

"I - I guess not."

"I mean… A world where there's always peace. No wars, no violent deaths, no monsters, everything just so… _serene._ Imagine nothing to kill or die for. No need for greed or hunger, and all people just… sharing the world without fighting."

Now Hazel was outright staring at Leo with wide, worried eyes because this wasn't like him at all, being all philosophical and deep. She resisted the urge to ask if he was sick, and he didn't seem sick; he had seemed very happy and pleased since the war, always enthusiastic with the work he was doing and chatting hanging out with his friends daily. He seemed at _home_, much more than at the _Argo II. _Hazel believed she was good at reading him, because she was actually the only one who had seemed to notice how bad he had felt on the quest, and now she could clearly see how genuinely happy he was.

But Leo seemed to realize how strange the things he was saying sounded, because he cringed a little and turned to Hazel, grinning nervously and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I know it sounds all really weird and dreamy, but I just… the war just ended, and everybody is mourning over the things that were lost, but still relieved because it could have been so much more. And during all this time, it felt like everybody was holding their breath, and now they've let it out and it feels good. I wish it could be like this always. Peaceful and happy and no fighting."

As Leo explained, still looking adorably nervous, Hazel's eyes softened and she felt her heart go warm. She clasped one of his hands, squeezing gently and making him blush slightly and stare at her with wide eyes.

"I think it sounds absolutely amazing." She wet her lips. "But we're demigods. We have to live like this, always knowing war is lurking around the corner."

"It doesn't have to be like that," Leo protested. "It shouldn't need to be like that. Demigods should get to live in peace. We should get to live in nice homes with our families and worry about homework instead of war. I just don't get why I can't enjoy chicken nuggets without asking myself if monsters like them, too, and if they'll start chasing me if I don't eat quickly."

Hazel's lips quirked upwards. Leo threw up his hands in exasperation.

"If it wasn't for the war, we wouldn't have so much to do, and I wouldn't be too exhausted and have too little time to ask you out."

"What?" Hazel blinked, trying to process what her friend just had said. Leo grinned, this time more confidently, and squeezed the hand she hadn't realized she still was intertwining with his.

"Didn't you hear me?" he asked playfully. "I hate this. I don't even have time to go to a nice restaurant with my new date."

"D - _date_?!" Hazel said, this time her voice a little too shrill. "Leo, I just broke up with Frank! You can't just - I can't - do you _want _him to _kill _you?!"

Leo looked thoughtful.

"I guess that wouldn't be too nice," he admitted, but then his devilish grin was back and his eyes were twinkling. "But what if I've already talked to him about it?"

"_Leo!"_

But now Hazel was laughing, and Leo, too, because this was all so ridiculous. The boy for whose sake she had broken up with her boyfriend had just asked her out in the worst way ever, and they were holding hands, and the whole conversation had started with him talking about the ideal world philosophers were writing books about.

"Did you mean all that you said about a perfect world?" she had to ask, still smiling widely.

Leo's face darkened with a shadow of seriousness.

"Of course. Wouldn't you like that too? A world where you don't have to worry about your friends and yourself dying all the time?" Hazel's smile faltered a little, but Leo brushed off his pants with his free hand and rose to his feet. He squeezed Hazel's hand lightly, his eyes filled with the old playfulness again. "So, will you go on a date with me? I think we both have time to eat a quick meal before Chiron and Reyna start yelling at us to start working."

She smiled, hauling herself up with the help of Leo's hand. Hazel's heart felt warm, her head fuzzy, because _was this really happening_ and it was really ridiculous.

"Not if we don't hurry," Hazel said pointedly.

"Ah, hurry is all we do nowadays, isn't it?" Leo joked lightly.

Hazel sighed deeply, inhaling the summer air and listening to the distant laughter and screaming of the campers.

"Imagine a world without needing to hurry."

"Imagine a world without me," Leo said dramatically.

Hazel nudged him, rolling her eyes.

"You're so annoying and familiar that I can't."

_I don't want to either._

* * *

**_Okay, that was a short one. I hoped you liked it! Not my best, but anyway… It was fun to write :D_**


	16. Drabble 16 Mine

**_Hi guys! _**

**_Okay, I'm gonna experiment a little! I've come up with a whole new character! (and if you're like "OH GODS NO, WHAT IS SHE DOING, IS SHE CRAZY, NOOOOOOOO, I'M NEVER READING THIS AGAIN" now – just hold on) _**

**_I love writing future-Lazel, and I need your opinion about it. I need to know if you want me to write drabbles about them being adults or not, so I can decide if I can start doing it more often, so pretty pretty PLEASE review this story! _**

**_And by the way, if you don't like future-Lazel, I'm sorry but I have another drabble waiting to get published about it too – I promise that if you don' t like Lazel being adults, I'll stop after that one. Because this and that other one was so fun to write. _**

**_That was all. Enjoy!_**

* * *

**Mine – Taylor Swift**

_HAZEL_

* * *

"And now we're done! All the tests went great. Do you want to hold her?" The nurse asked warmly as she rapidly walked back to the bed, her smile wide and the baby cradled to her chest.

"It's… It's a girl?" Leo breathed, his eyes wide and some color returning to his pale face after all the hours of Hazel being in labor.

The nurse nodded, still smiling. The baby in her arms moved a little bit, but didn't wake up or shout.

"You didn't know?"

Hazel, who was completely exhausted, looked at Leo with tears in her eyes. He was still staring at the baby – _their _baby – like it was an alien, his mouth wide open.

"I'll take that as a no." The nurse chuckled, and then stepped closer to the side of Hazel's bed, carefully handing over the small girl in the pink blanket. The redness of her face had faded a little, her eyes were close, her features almost too small to be true.

"She's perfect." Hazel whispered happily, holding the baby just a little tighter. She heard Leo shuffle closer, but she couldn't take her eyes off their small baby girl.

"I-Wow." Leo said, his breath tickling her cheek as he leaned closer. "Hazel, we have a daughter."

His voice was horse, breathless and filled with awe. Hazel's laugh was a little watery, and she turned her head to look at him. Leo's eyes were shining as he met her gaze, his smile so wide that it could split his face in two.

Hazel leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to her his lips, and then jerked her head back to watch the baby as it started moving a little.

They held their breath, waiting for her to wake up and start crying, but then she went slack again and kept sleeping.

"What are we gonna call her?" Leo asked quietly.

Wow. Hazel hadn't thought about that – she had figured that they would eventually come up with a name when the baby was born, but her mind was blank now. She and Leo hadn't discussed it, really; just joked around about naming it after monsters or people they didn't like ("What about Octavian? Or – wait, what did Jason say that ballet-loving giant's name was?").

"I like the name Samantha." Leo said suddenly, jerking her back to reality.

Hazel blinked and looked at him.

"Samantha?"

"Yeah." He didn't look nervous, and his dark eyes were focused on the baby girl in her arms. "Samantha. It's a nice name. Our daughter Samantha. That sounds good, doesn't it?"

She frowned a little and turned back to the sleeping child. Samantha. It _was _a nice name.

"Yes, but why Samantha?" Hazel asked curiously.

"Then we could call her Sam." She turned to stare at Leo, who shrugged halfheartedly, eyes still on the baby.

"_Sam_?"

"Or Sammy." He suggested casually.

As it clicked in her mind, incredible warmth spread through Hazel's body. Sammy. She looked at the baby girl, soaking in every detail: the skin-tone that was slightly reddish right now but just a tan darker than Leo's: the mop of thin brown hair on her head; the closed eyelids that could hide any eye-color between Hazel's golden hazel and Leo's blackish brown…

"Sammy." She whispered, not really knowing if she was saying _his _name or their newborn child's. "Our Sammy."

Hazel looked up at Leo, who was watching her reaction carefully, at loss of words. She hoped her eyes said everything she wanted to tell him, and as his smile slowly stretched over his face and his gaze grew softer, she suspected he already knew.

_Thank you._

But then the child groaned, turning slightly in Hazel's arms and the parents immediately turned back to look at her, tensely waiting for her to start screaming.

She opened her eyes.

"Hi, Samantha." Leo whispered after a moment of shocked silence, reaching out a finger and softly caressing her cheek. "Hi, Sammy."

Samantha didn't scream. She looked at her father with her eyes as wide as they could be.

Leo turned to Hazel.

"Can I hold her?"

Numbly, Hazel nodded and carefully shuffled the baby wrapped in the pink blanket to him. Leo took her, cradling her against his chest and slowly stepping back from Hazel's bed, his eyes on the baby as he started to shift on his feet and walk around a little.

"Hi, baby girl. Do you know that you've got your mother's eyes?"

* * *

**_Yes, this was really short, but it was supposed to be. The next one is like a… Maybe not a sequel, but they're connected. _**

**_I really hoped you liked this one! I love the song so much. _**

**_PS. This drabble didn't get Beta'd, but I hope it's okay anyway. To the Beta: Since you've seemed very busy lately, I decided to do this on my own. I hope it's okay - as I said, it was because you seem so busy and I didn't want to make you have more work to do. But you'll have to Beta the next one, because that one will be longer! :P _**


	17. Drabble 17 Slipping Through My Fingers

_**Hi again!**_

_**As I said in the last drabble: here comes another future-Lazel one!**_

_**I've loved this song since forever.**_

* * *

**Slipping Through My Fingers – ABBA**

_LEO_

* * *

"Daddy?"

Leo turned around in surprise, almost dropping the glass of milk he was clutching in his right hand.

"Sammy! What are you doing up, baby girl?"

In the doorway to the kitchen, his daughter was standing. Her dark, curly hair was extra tangled after lying in bed, her eyes big and golden just like Hazel's. She was wearing the red nightgown Piper had bought her and holding a teddy bear in her hand, looking almost too adorable to be true.

"I'm not a baby, I'm six years old," she muttered, scratching her head. "Daddy, I can't sleep."

Leo put down his glass on the desk and walked over to Samantha, crouching in front of her and tucking a curl behind her ear.

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that we're taking you to camp tomorrow?"

Sammy's eyes grew wide.

"I don't want to," she confessed, her voice somewhere between angry, whiny, and scared. She clutched the teddy bear to her chest.

"But, sweetie, camp is fun!" Leo said and grinned, trying to make his daughter's sad eyes get happy again. "Now they've put the two camps together to one, it'll be full of demigods there. You'll have a great time!"

"But I'm not a demigod!" she said angrily. "I'm not a demigod! My momym or daddy isn't a god. I'm just Samantha. I'm not special, like a demigod. The other kids will be demigods and I won't have any friends, daddy."

As Leo realized why Sammy was sad, his grin widened and he laughed. Samantha watched him with her eyes wide, not understanding at all.

"Sammy, of course you're special!" he said. "And there'll be full of kids like you, with two demigods instead of one demigod and one god as parents! That doesn't make you any less special, Sammy."

Samantha stared at him, her mouth wide open.

"Really? I'm like everybody else?"

"No," Leo said and picked her up, rising to his feet and spinning. "You're even better, because you're my baby girl."

"I'm not a baby! And I dropped Teddy!" Sammy complained, giggling and looking down at the floor where the plush-toy had fallen. "So I'll get to play games with everybody else? And no one will bully me?"

"Of course not, Sammy." Her father soothed her, putting her down again. She kneeled and picked up her teddy bear, hugging it and smiling slightly. "You'll be amazing. But now, you need to go to sleep, so you'll have a lot of energy to play tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Samantha repeated. She took Leo's hand and let him lead her back to her bedroom.

* * *

"Do you have everything?"

"Yes, mommy."

"Your toothbrush? Pajamas? Extra pair of shoes? Clothes? A jacket if it gets cold?"

"_Yes_, mommy!"

"Okay, then… And Teddy?"

Leo put a reassuring hand on Hazel's shoulder to calm her down, Samantha's green suitcase in his other hand. She turned and looked at him, almost glared, and he tried his best to keep his grin on his face.

"Calm down, Hazel, we've double-checked everything at least five times now. Everything's in the suitcase."

She didn't look convinced, but when she turned to look at Sammy, her daughter nodded and smiled. Hazel relaxed visibly, Leo feeling how her shoulder slumped under his hand.

"Okay, then." She smiled. "Are you nervous, Sammy?"

"A little," the six-year old girl admitted shyly.

"Why?" Hazel clasped her hand, worry creeping in to her face again. "Is it anything that bothers you?"

Sammy glanced at Leo, who smiled encouragingly to show that she should tell her mom.

"No one is going to bully me, right, mommy?"

Hazel frowned.

"Of course not. Why would you think that?"

Her daughter shifted on her feet.

"Because I'm not a demigod? And both my parents aren't Greek or Roman?"

"Oh, Sammy." Hazel collected Samantha in a warm, tight hug. Leo smiled, a little sadly, and turned his head to the entrance to the camp. A lot of families with young and older kids were standing outside like them, hugging and talking and fighting. Chiron was standing just by the entry, smiling and welcoming all the campers warmly.

"You're going to fit right in," Leo said, turning back to Sammy and Hazel with a grin. "You're not the only one. Think of Sally, and Luke, and Tristan…"

Hazel put Samantha down. The little girl looked much happier now, turning around and searching for the familiar faces of Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason's kids.

"They're probably already inside camp," Hazel said, twirling one of Sammy's curls around her finger. "You should go and find them."

"Yeah," Leo agreed, putting a hand on his daughter's shoulder comfortingly. "Do you want us to come with?"

Sammy turned to her parents, straightening her white dress and looked at them with determination in her golden, big eyes.

"No, I'm a big girl now. I can go by myself."

Leo's face broke in to a wide grin. He handed her the suitcase, crouched and kissed her cheek. Hazel hugged Sammy tightly, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"We'll see you at the end of the summer, okay?" she said, smiling toward Samantha.

"Make sure to bring the camp-shirt home. I'll get one myself until then, and then we can both wear it," Leo suggested playfully.

Sammy smiled toward them one last time before running off, the suitcase slowing her down a little. She waved over her shoulder, shouting:

"Bye, mommy! Bye, daddy!"

Hazel waved, smiling, and Leo put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. They followed Sammy with their eyes until she stopped by Chiron to take her new camp-shirt and introduce herself. She turned and pointed toward her parents, and Chiron raised his head to look at them. Leo caught his eye and they shared a smile, before the centaur turned back to Sammy. A moment later, the small girl had disappeared in to the camp.

"Is she going to be okay?" Hazel asked worriedly. "What if she doesn't find any friends?"

Leo turned to look at her amusedly.

"It's quite impossible not to find friends at a demigod-camp," he joked. "And Tristan, Luke, and the others are in there. See? She already has some friends."

"But what if they send her out on a quest?"

He rolled his eyes."Hazel, she's too young. They've put an age-limit, remember? Anyone under eleven years old isn't allowed to go."

"But– "

"Shut up, Hazel, she'll be _fine,_" Leo interrupted.

Hazel laughed a little, putting her head on his shoulder and sighing wistfully.

"I'm so happy that they've put Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter together. Do you remember when we and the rest of the seven tried to convince them? And we had to go to Empire State Building and talk to the gods?"

"Yeah . . . and we forgot to go in two groups, and all the Olympians were so torn between their Roman and Greek shapes that they almost killed all of us?"

"You set fire to Bacchus' chair," Hazel said, laughing.

"Hey, that is _not _funny!" Leo complained. "If he had had the time to collect himself, I would probably be a bunch of grapes right now. We were lucky to get out of there before it got ugly."

"_You set fire to his chair_!" she gasped. Leo sighed, patting her back and looking at their surroundings.

"Yeah, yeah, I set fire to Dionysos' chair. Isn't my wife done laughing about it?"

"Never." Hazel said with a smile, straightening her shirt. "That'll be a fine story to tell our grandchildren."

"Grandchildren?" Leo mused. "Who do you think Sammy will marry?"

"Luke?" she suggested. "That would make Percy and Annabeth real family."

Leo scrunched his nose.

"No, not Luke. Tristan, maybe."

"Because he looks good?" Hazel asked amusedly.

He shrugged with one shoulder, smiling.

"It's the genes. I mean, look at Piper and Jason. I knew their child would turn out great. He's the cutest kid I've ever seen. Even compared to Sammy."

Hazel nudged him sharply with her elbow in his ribs, causing him to jump and glare at her, but she was looking at the people around them with an absent smile.

"I love you," Leo said. Hazel turned and looked at him, smiling.

"I love you, too."

Leo leaned forward and pressed a quick peck to her lips.

* * *

_**This wasn't that long, either. I thought it would be longer, actually, but it's fine anyway. Did you like it? Please review!**_


	18. Drabble 18 Blackbird

_**Here I am again! :D Another drabble – yay :) This one isn't really happy, but I hope that's okay.**_

_**Thanks for the reviews!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

**Blackbird– The Beatles **(I ADORE THEM)

_HAZEL_

* * *

It started out simply enough.

The first time Leo had used the nickname, Hazel barely noticed it. It was when they just had started dating, and she weren't even supposed to hear it: she was leaving the deck with her lips curved in a smile, because they had just kissed for maybe the fourth time, and she accidently overheard what he said to Festus.

"Doesn't she seem like a good Blackbird, Festus? Finally I've found one."

She was confused, but it slipped her mind; maybe Leo was talking to someone else or had used some new saying from after her death. It didn't matter anyway; Hazel doubted it meant something bad, and thus let it leave her mind without a trace.

The next time, it wasn't a nickname or anything; just the name, flowing by during a conversation. They were having a picnic, and it was dark; Hazel leaning against Leo's chest and he playing with her curls while they stargazed.

"What kind of music do you like?" Leo had asked.

Hazel shifted so she could stare at him.

"Why are you asking?"

He grinned mischievously, that grin that made her knees weak and annoyed her so much sometimes. He had made a non-committal shrug.

"You're my girlfriend, but I don't even know what your favorite band is. If it's bad, you know, I have to break up with you."

Hazel laughed, silently worrying and wondering if he was serious, and then the laugh died out and they sat in silence.

"The Beatles," she said. "Am I worth keeping as a girlfriend?"

"The Beatles," Leo repeated. "Blackbird?"

"Yeah," Hazel said slowly. "Yeah, I like that song."

The time after that was different. It was when they had finally told the rest of the crew on the ship, when Frank had to find out, and Hazel had felt herself shattering to pieces when she saw his expression. She had gone right back to her cabin and refused to come out, and no one had come to ask for her, something she was very grateful for. She had sat on the bed for maybe hours, listening to the muffled sounds of the other demigods going back and forth in the corridor outside or just silence. But then Leo had knocked on the door, his voice softly asking if she was okay, and she had let him in. He had put an arm around her and they had sat in complete silence. Leo had kissed her temple and quietly said:

"It's going to be okay, Blackbird."

Hazel had been too tired to think about it, but she mentally told herself to ask him about it later. She hadn't.

However, after that, he had started to constantly use the word to address her. She never found the right moment to ask him about it, and if he noticed her confusion, he didn't say anything. At last she stopped wondering and just saw it as a sweet nickname he used because she liked The Beatles. He used it to tease her and comfort her, it was something that never changed, something new but feeling oddly familiar and domestic in some way.

When Hazel finally called him out about it, it was two days before they would reach Greece. They were standing alone at the deck, Leo steering and his gaze steady on the horizon. The ship was flying, which was a relief for Hazel, because she had pondered the nickname a lot a few nights ago and she was sure she wouldn't be able to ask him if she was seasick.

"Leo, why do you call me Blackbird?" she had asked with furrowed eyebrows.

Leo looked at her with surprise written all over his face, his eyes saying something like _isn't it obvious?, _which made her uneasy.

"Don't you know?" he asked.

"N-Not really."

His face broke in to a grin, but after spending so much time with both Sammy and him, Hazel could easily see that there was something behind it that he was trying to hide.

"Your skin is dark." She could hear that he was joking, but after taking so much crap because of her skin-color in the past, Hazel's shoulder had tensed. Leo had noticed, and he had rolled his eyes fondly. "I don't mean anything bad, Hazel. You know I like the way you look."

He blushed a little, and it was adorable, but she impatiently had asked:

"And the bird-concept?"

"Birds are pretty," Leo had said simply, and then he had turned back to steering without another word.

Hazel had knew that he was lying, or at least not told her the whole truth, but how important could it be? It was just a nickname. It wasn't something big or strange or painful. A simple word, Blackbird, because her skin was chocolate-colored and birds were pretty.

She accepted his answer, and their relationship had continued exactly like before. It had been a simple thing, the _only _simple thing, in the complicated world full of monsters, wars, pain, loss, and hurry. It was nice to be able to just cuddle up on Leo's bed together, Hazel listening to him talking about sketches of strange machines he was going to build for various reasons, and simply enjoying each other's company.

But then the doom's day came, and everything shattered to pieces as they suddenly where on the battlefield that once had been a beautiful Greek city filled with mortals living happy lives.

There had been pain and hurry and war and loss, which was inevitable during a battle like this, but it still had been so much more than Hazel had anticipated, and it was terribly overwhelming. The only thing that had kept her sane under all that pressure was, of course, Leo – she could hold his hand in a tight and clammy grip and look at him instead of the dead bodies she didn't want to see.

"Don't look around you, Blackbird," he had said, his voice level and his eyes staring straight ahead. "Look at me instead."

Hazel had looked at him, kept her eyes at his wonderful face, and it wasn't because she _couldn't _look at the dead bodies, but simply because there was a better option: to obey Leo. And she couldn't help worrying how much_he _saw in order to protect her; he had to look out so she didn't trip or that monsters didn't sneak up behind them.

Yes, Hazel's world was shattering to pieces, but there was a part that still was fine, and it was Leo – she and Leo, their relationship, simply _them. _The gods had been nice enough not to touch that part of her world. A shattering world wasn't something unusual for a demigod; they saw so much more than other people, experienced so much more, lived through so much more, and it was only natural that everything seemed to fall apart around them. But many of them had their lifeline, like Percy and Annabeth; they had made it through Tartarus only because of each other. Hazel's lifeline in her past had been Sammy; he had kept her from not drowning in people bullying her or the agony of her mother being possessed or the fact that the jewels she made cursed people. And now she had Leo, and it was him and only him that made her keep going on.

But of course that couldn't last. A demigod's life was never that merciful. _Of course _Leo was going to go in to Tartarus in order to close the Doors of Death, _of course _he would leave Hazel behind in order to protect her, _of course _he didn't want them to try to save him later but to focus on winning the war. Of course he was giving up his life for the greater good.

And that was when Hazel's world truly fell apart, that was when she broke down and started crying, that was when the other demigods had to hold her back to not run in to the darkness behind the gates and follow Leo, that was when Piper had to use charmspeak to calm her down and that was when they tried to convince her everything was going to be fine when she knew it wasn't. But just before Leo had reached the Doors to slide in between them to Tartarus and lock them, he turned around and walked over to her with a reassuring smile and pressed something dry and papery in to her palm.

He had turned to Piper, asking a final favor with plea in his eyes.

"Don't let her read it until you've left Greece."

Piper looked confused and her eyes were shining, but she nodded. Leo shot her a weak smile, and _then_ he ran back, right into the darkness of death.

Hazel thought the tears would never stop coming, but when they did, the demigods could finally leave the House of Hades.

Nico let her lean against him. He told the other demigods to focus on Percy and Annabeth.

She felt selfish for behaving like this.

The thing Leo had given her before leaving was still in her clenched fist.

When the war finally was over and they were back on the ship, no one bothered to remind Hazel to read it. She dismissed Nico and convinced him that she was fine, and even though she could see that he didn't believe her, he left her alone.

And there she was, sitting on her bed in the cabin Leo had built her, and slowly uncurled her fingers around the object he had given her.

It was a note, a small piece of paper with framed edges. It was carefully folded, and Hazel slowly opened it, her fingers shaking almost too much for the task to be done.

_Hazel, simply put: I love you._

_You asked me why I call you Blackbird. It was because my world has been in flames since forever, and you know what I think about fire now._

_You've probably heard people say that the thing they love the most is a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark world._

_You were a dark shape in a light world, and I like that. A bird, because birds are free and can take off whenever they want, and you never can hold them back. I think that's an accurate description of you. _

_I hope I didn't break your wings, leaving you. And if I did, I'm so sorry. Take these broken wings and learn to fly._

_Your Leo_

It was so unlike him, and still so like him, and it would have been that note that brought Hazel over the edge if she hadn't been already.

_Drowning in your own tears_, they say.

Not the tears. They're too few for a person to drown in.

It's rather the agony, the pain, the sadness that suffocates you.

Hazel wished so bad she didn't know that.

* * *

_**Not that long. Sorry, it turned out much sadder than I thought it would… I love this song, anyway. Sorry if the characters are a little OOC. Please review!**_


	19. Drabble 19 When You Say Nothing At All

**This was partly inspired by a post I saw on Tumblr about how Jason and Hazel's friendship; or, well, lack of friendship. They almost didn't interact at all in The Mark of Athena, which was strange since they were friends before. There could be a really cute relationship between them, and the way they almost don't acknowledge each other at all in the book is kinda' sad. **

**So yeah, I wanted to write something about them two. Don't worry; these are Lazel song-drabbles, so there's of course some Lazel in this drabble. But I hope you notice the Jason/Hazel (Jazel?) friendship, too.**

* * *

**When You Say Nothing At All – Ronan Keating**

**_HAZEL_**

* * *

"Are you okay?!" Was the first thing out of Hazel's mouth when the monster had vaporized. She took a step toward Jason, but then changed her mind as she saw his expression.

His face was pale, and his blue eyes wide open in realization. They were flashing with so many emotions, it was impossible to read. He was still standing in his fight-position, knees bent and _gladius _raised.

Hazel watched him with careful, concerned eyes; not moving and being completely silent.

"We've fought together before. Just the two of us." Jason said slowly, pronouncing each word as clear as possible, as if to it sounded strange on his tongue and he needed to convince himself. It wasn't a question.

"Yes. I thought your memory had recovered wholly?" Hazel asked confusedly.

"I know, but…" He straightened, dropping his hand and his grip around his Imperial Gold weapon loosening slightly. He suddenly looked helpless, pulling his fingers through his hair and his blue eyes darting back and forth. "But it just-It hadn't really hit me before now. We were friends."

Jason turned and stared at her, his eyes electric blue and filled with a mix of miserable realization, confusion and helplessness.

Of course, what he said was true, but just by looking at him, Hazel realized that she couldn't tell him that. Because she had known him long enough to know that he would blame himself for not having thought of that before, and she didn't want to bring him any pain, no matter how much she disliked how they had grown apart.

"We were friends_. _You and I. We hung out and defended each other and had a good time." Jason's eyes darkened slightly. "I remembered it all. It was in the back of my mind, but I never _thought_ of it."

"Jason, it's fine." Hazel soothed him, a little nervously. "We're friends now, right? That's all that matters."

He looked disbelievingly at her.

"We've barely talked during the whole quest! Did I even greet you when we met at Camp Jupiter? Gods, I'm such a jerk." He exclaimed miserably.

Hazel slowly walked over to him and put a hand on his arm. As he turned his head to look at her, she smiled.

"Well, you remember it, and we're here together right now. We're still friends." She said, the words flowing effortlessly out of her mouth, as if they had waited to do it all this time. The look Jason gave her made her heart go incredibly warm. Hazel hadn't even realized how much she had missed him; how much she had missed _them. _She had been too caught up in all the bad things happening around them to remember good things that silently had waited before her nose.

"Well, come on!" Jason said suddenly, breaking the silence and grinning. "We've got to catch up! Tell me what I've missed."

* * *

The question had been nagging in the back of her mind during the whole conversation, but as everything related to that particular issue of hers, she had pushed it away.

The problem was that when you kept pushing away your issues, they would just grow and take over your entire head until you felt like suffocating by the sheer pressure of avoiding them.

Hazel felt herself getting closer to that state, so she told herself _"go for it"._

"What happened to you and Reyna?" It wasn't exactly the right question, but it might lead to the answer she wanted.

Jason stopped talking and stared at her, and Hazel realized that she hadn't even realized that he was speaking at all. Her cheeks flushed and she averted her eyes.

"I-I don't know." Jason said sincerely, and when she looked back at him, he was staring at the sky. "I don't know if it ever was a 'you and Reyna' at all. I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, Reyna is… Reyna." He said, looking Hazel right in the eyes. And she understood what he meant, so she nodded. Jason seemed satisfied and looked back at the domain of his father. "But I've got Piper now."

"What do you have with Piper?" She asked, trying to make her voice light and curious.

This time, a smile started playing on Jason's lips.

"I just… I like her and she knows that, and I know that she like me back." He shot Hazel a brief look. "That's what I love about our relationship. It's… Open, you know? No secrets and no questions. It's all so clear. I know exactly what I feel, and I'm pretty sure she knows it."

"What do you feel?" There it was.

Jason looked thoughtful.

"I feel happy around her. Without saying a word, she can light up the dark. And when she smiles, I know she needs me. There's something in her eyes that tells me she'll never leave me. When she touches me, I know she won't let anything hurt me. The thing is… She says it best when she says nothing at all. You know?" He flashed Hazel a happy look, and she managed to nod. "I just… I can't imagine not being with her."

Hazel gulped and stared at the ground. She felt nauseous and light-headed.

"Wow, that must have sounded really weird." Jason suddenly said, smiling embarrassedly and rubbing the back of his neck. "But yeah. That's the only way I can explain."

"No, it was… Good." She said trying to sound normal. She forced a smile but only dared to lock eyes with him very briefly. "Should we get back to the others now?"

"Sure. You're not gonna tell Piper about this, right? 'Cause she'll never stop teasing me. Or anyone else." He added quickly, looking a little scared.

Hazel forced a laugh that probably sounded horribly faked and shook her head.

They walked in silence for a while, and she finally let the forbidden thoughts pass her mind.

It seemed so messy and tangled in her head, because she added reasons and excuses and so much unnecessary things to conceal the truth. Because really, the truth was simple: Hazel wasn't in love with Frank.

The only unclear thing was if she was in love with anyone else.

Leo?

If it was him, was it then really_ him_ or Sammy? Was it just leftover feelings for her boyfriend from the 1940's, which now stirred because of his great-grandson that was so much alike him? What would she do if it indeed _was _a shade of the feelings she had had for Sammy – dump Frank and get together with Leo when she really didn't love _him_? Or just bury all of it, stay with Frank and sooner or later explode?

Leo, Sammy, Frank.

Leo, Sammy, Frank.

Leo, Sammy, Frank.

For the gods' sake, she was thirteen years old. Was she even supposed to _have _a boyfriend? Maybe that was the problem. Maybe she was too young for these things.

She almost could hear Venus, the goddess of love, whisper in her ear: _when it comes to love, age and time will never matter._

Was that true?

_Probably_, Hazel thought miserably, her shoulders sagging and her eyebrows furrowing slightly. Jason didn't seem to notice, and they kept walking in a comfortable silence.

Hazel thought about what Jason had told her he felt with Piper.

Did she feel that? And to who? Who was the one whose smile let her know that he needed her? Who was the one whose eyes there was a truth in saying that he'll never leave her? Who was the one whose touch of his hands said he'll catch her wherever she falls?

Who said it best when he said nothing at all?

"Hazel, by the way," Jason's voice jerked her back to reality, pulling her away from her issues. She turned her head to him, the absentness and distantness in her eyes slowly melting away as she directed her full attention to him. He looked slightly troubled. "It's about Leo."

"What?" She straightened and stared at him.

"Tell him there's something wrong with the air-conditioner in my cabin. Could he maybe check it out?"

"Why are you asking me?" Hazel stammered unintelligently.

Jason frowned slightly at first, but then he just shrugged with a small, easy smile.

"You just seem to have spent a lot of time together lately. Besides, he likes you a lot. Maybe he'll do it quicker if you're asking instead of me." He winked and put a hand on her shoulder.

"How do you know he likes me?" She asked disbelievingly.

The son of Jupiter shrugged halfheartedly.

"You automatically spend most of your free time with the people you like the most."

As he jogged off, Hazel stood, staring at him.

How easy love could be.

* * *

**And that was that! Beware; this drabble wasn't Beta'd, because my Beta hasn't returned my previous drabble yet and I figured she was busy and didn't want to send her more work. Hope that's okay with you!**

**I hope you liked this one. I'm not very sure myself. Tell me what you think; reviews are very much appreciated, as always. **

**Later, fellow awesome, Lazel-shipping, demigods! **


	20. Drabble 20 Merry Christmas Darling

**Hello!**

**It's summer over here in Sweden, and even though it's still pretty cold, I'm filled with the happy feeling most people get at this time of year. Mostly because school's over, but anyway.**

**So, summer. What kind of drabble are we going to start off the summer with?**

**A Christmas one, of course.**

* * *

**_Merry Christmas Darling – The Carpenters_**

_HAZEL_

* * *

It was truly beautiful.

The whole camp was decorated with colorful lights, garlands, and Christmas trees. Wreaths were hanging on the doors, and some demigods were wearing Santa Claus hats, all so happy and excited about the holiday. Gifts and greeting cards were exchanged between friends and old enemies decided to ignore each other instead of fight (which was a big improvement).

Everybody was still aware of the strict rules, but it didn't matter; it was Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year. Even Reyna was a little loose, smiling more often and sometimes pretending not to see when people broke small rules.

And yes, the happy mood rubbed off on Hazel. Maybe not that bubbly excitement most people felt, but a peaceful bliss. She didn't let herself feel joyful, because she had so much to think about.

Hazel was standing in front of the huge Christmas tree in the heart of New Rome, admiring the beauty of it like a couple of other demigods, too. She let her gaze sweep over their surroundings, and stuck at two boys standing on the other side of the tree, partly invisible because of the green mass parting them and Hazel.

Jason spotted her and leaned to the side to see her clearer. He was grinning, wearing a jacket and mittens, and he poked his friend and pointed at Hazel.

Frank looked troubled, but he smiled anyway. The two boys waved, and Hazel raised her hand too with a small smile. She tried to ignore the guilt that bloomed in her chest when she saw her ex-boyfriend, because the break-up was still fresh and even if he had understood and it had been calm and quiet, she still felt very guilty whenever they met. Of course they were still friends; they hung out with Jason together all the time, but they weren't as close as before. Hazel hated it; it was _her_fault.

But no one could deny that it had been necessary. She had been so confused, because _Leo, Sammy, Frank, _and it was all so strange and messy. She had left Frank to get some air, to be able to breathe without feeling like she was suffocating by the choice she had to make and all the expectations, pain, guilt and jealousy. It had been too much.

And now Hazel was free, alone, feeling like she was fleeting. She didn't feel any more ready to decide what to do, and all she had gotten out of breaking up with Frank was a feeling of slowly disappearing in to her head since nothing was there to ground her.

She needed _time_, and the stupid thing was that she had so much. Because Frank had been so gentle and understanding – sad, yes, but he realized what she was facing and gods she really did love him. Just not in the way he wanted, and that made Hazel feel so filthy, because she _should_ love him, she really should. And she had tried – during the whole quest, she had pretended that everything was okay, that her feelings weren't slowly becoming platonic and tangled and messy, and she had tried so hard to love him like she should, so, so hard. Hazel had hated herself for not being able to feel what she had felt before she met Leo.

Leo didn't even _know._

Hazel had avoided him. Escaped every opportunity to spend time with him, because it made her heart feel heavy and light at the same time, and it made her feel lightheaded and giddy and everything she should've felt with Frank. And Leo had just accepted her stupid behavior, he left her alone as much as he could, and she had felt so_ horrible_.

And then they had parted. Here she was, in Camp Jupiter with Roman demigods that never had cared about her and two friends, whereof one of them should hate her.

She had all the space and time anyone could wish for, and still didn't feel any wiser than when she was in love with both Frank and Leo.

Sighing, Hazel turned and left with heavy, dragging steps. She buried her hands deeply in her pockets and looked down at the ground, wishing she could sink down and disappear.

Someone suddenly appeared next to her, walking just as slowly but with much lighter steps. Hazel's head snapped up in surprise.

"Hello, Hazel," Reyna said coolly, not even bothering to look at her. "How are you?"

"I… I'm fine," Hazel said slowly, blinking in confusion. "Um, has something happened?"

Reyna didn't casually talk to her like this. Reyna didn't casually talk to _anyone_. Worry started to settle in Hazel's mind. Something had to have happened.

But the praetor just turned and looked at her, her dark eyes not as piercing and hard as always.

"No. Why would you think that?"

Hazel blushed slightly and quickly averted her eyes.

"You just… I find this very unusual," she murmured.

Reyna stopped walking, and Hazel automatically did the same.

"Hazel, look at me." She slowly obeyed, finding the praetor _smiling. _"Can't I speak to a camper?"

"Of course." Hazel's cheeks flushed more. "But – "

"However, something unusual actually has happened. This was sent to you," Reyna cut off, looking down and pulling out a small object from a pocket on her coat. She handed it to Hazel.

With brisk steps, the praetor left Hazel with the thing in her hands, blinking confusedly. Slowly, Hazel uncurled her fingers around the object, to find a small box. It was white with a small, red ribbon on top. She twisted and turned it in wonder, but there was no note or anything else to announce who it was from.

Carefully, Hazel pulled away the lid. As soon as she did that, a piece of neatly folded paper fell out; she caught it just before it hit the ground. Momentarily forgetting the box, she quickly unfolded the note and read the squiggly, messy letters written on it.

_I wanted to give you something since it's your first Christmas in the modern world._

_Merry Christmas and Happy New Year._

_Leo_

A smile slowly spread across Hazel's face, and her fingers tightened around the edges of the small note. She reread the message a few times, soaking in every detail of the handwriting, before remembering the opened box in her other hand.

Hazel quietly gasped.

It was a necklace: a very thin chain with a small star on it. She instantly knew it was gold, and even without her demigod-powers, what else could be shining so brightly? With trembling fingers, she carefully took it out from the box and let it rest on her palm.

Something in her chest tightened as she watched it and realized that _Leo_ had wanted her to have it.

Hazel carefully let her fingers grip the ends of the necklace and brought it to her head, locking it on the back of her neck and letting her fingers trace the thin, golden chain until it reached the cold star that was resting on the skin just between her collarbones.

For the first time since the quest, her head felt perfectly clear. Finally, she knew exactly what she wanted.

_I've just one wish this Christmas Eve, _Hazel thought and looked down at the necklace, wishing that somehow, Leo would hear her wish. _I wish I were with you._


	21. Drabble 21 The Only Exception

**Hi everybody!**

**Sorry for the delay, but now I'm back with another drabble! Yaaaay!**

**As I mentioned before, I'm currently not taking any song requests because I have a list of songs I want to do first. This list has six songs right now (many, right?), whereof two are kinda sad, one is what I classify as happy and the rest are… I don't know. Neutral? (that doesn't mean the drabbles necessarily will be neutral. The drabbles can turn out happy and fluffy or sad and miserable, but the song itself is neutral – according to me, I mean)**

**And here's one of them, then! So now, there's five left. This one is one of the neutral ones, I think.**

**I like this song very much.**

* * *

**The Only Exception – Paramore**

**_LEO_**

* * *

"Have you ever been in love before?" Hazel asked.

They were sitting in the grass, under a big maple tree. Leo's legs were outstretched and he was leaning backwards, his hands keeping him from falling. Hazel was sitting in the gap between his legs, her back leaning against his chest and her head tucked in the croon of his neck. Her frizzy, cinnamon curls tickled his chin and cheek.

Their surroundings were beautiful. It was a park, and a lot of families were spreading out blankets on the green grass and having picnics or sunbathing. The sun was standing high on the sky, big and bright, causing you to squint as you watched the clear sky around it. Insects buzzed, people chatted, the wind rustled – the sounds of summer were all around them.

Leo couldn't really look at her from his position, but he did try. Hazel didn't notice; she was looking out over the park.

The question wasn't really unpleasant, but maybe a little strange – Leo didn't know how to answer. Had he ever been in love before?

"How do you mean? Love like what we have or love like a simple crush?"

Hazel straightened and turned so she could look at him, her golden eyes glittering and a smile tugging at her lips.

"Is our love any different from '_a simple crush_'?" she asked, only partly joking.

"Well, for once, I don't feel the same feeling for you as I felt for hot actresses before. This is a little less… one-sided, you know?" Leo joked.

There was laughter in her eyes as she leaned back to him. He loved being able to make her look that way. She was so brilliantly beautiful when her eyes were laughing.

After a moment of silence, Hazel answered his question:

"No, I mean _love. _What we have, as you oh-so-nicely phrased it."

He grinned at first, but then it melted off his face as he tried to think. _Love_. Had he been in love before? Like this?

Of course not. No, he had never felt like this.

"No," he answered at last. There was more to tell, but he didn't know if he should or wanted to. Hazel must have felt him tensing, or maybe she could read his mind – whatever.

"Why?"

Leo tried to make his thoughts make sense as words, licked his lips nervously and opened his mouth.

"I don't think I've ever loved anyone else than my mom, and she died. That's not very unusual – we're demigods, and stuff happens to demigods. I don't know if it was consciously, but I kinda never let anyone in. I didn't make myself not love anyone on purpose. Don't get me wrong; I've had plenty of people I could have loved, but I just… I loved once, and that didn't last, and that was that. And everything I believed about love was based on that single experience, you know? Who believes the crap in those romantic movies or books? You believe what you have felt yourself."

He quieted, waiting for Hazel's response, but she didn't even move. Leo kept going.

"But I went through life, and when you go through life, you see love and hear about love and feel it, too. I never felt it; I never let myself. At last, I started to believe that love didn't exist."

Hazel interrupted him."But you loved your mom?"

"I started to believe love outside family didn't exist." He corrected himself. "And in families, it didn't always last, either. At some point, people grow apart; even relatives. So, well, for me, love existed in families; like the love I had with my mom. But I didn't believe love could last; not forever, like people promise each forever. If you're lucky, a lifetime – but never forever.

And if there was something I was sure of, it was that I wasn't going to love again; I knew I wouldn't find someone to like so strongly it would become love, and I wouldn't really let myself either. I didn't realize that I loved my friends; I didn't realize that the way I felt about Piper or Jason was love. Protectiveness and fondness and stuff. It didn't matter; I never meant that kind of love anyway, when I promised myself not to love again."

Leo wet his lips. It felt strange to talk like this; he would never get used to how he could talk freely with Hazel, unguarded. It felt weird but good. And this was just… This was what he had believed, what he partly still believed. It didn't hurt to talk about it, so it couldn't be used to hurt him in any way. Not that Hazel would ever try to hurt him, but it made him feel safer speaking about it.

"Then you came along." He said, a grin tugging at his lips. "You came, and I had a crush, but then I fell deeper and I found myself stuck in the same stupid hole as before, in love and in position to be hurt as bad as with my mom. And everything I had told myself disappeared. Maybe I knew somewhere deep in my soul that love never lasts, and we've got to find other ways to make it alone or keep a straight face. I'd always lived like that, keeping a comfortable distance.

And up until when you came, I swore to myself that I was content with loneliness – because none of it was ever worth the risk. But you were the only exception, you _are_ the only exception. So what if love never lasts. So what if it's more comfortable to stay out of it all. But heck, the gods should know that it's worth the risk."

And now Leo was smiling widely, and he was feeling warm and fuzzy, because he had made his tangled thoughts into a (hopefully) good speech and told Hazel what he wanted her to know.

His girlfriend was silent for a while, and just as the worry started to nag at him, she spoke.

"I'm happy I'm the only exception. And I'm happy I'm not the only one you love," she said, and her voice was peaceful and calm. "You love others."

"I do," Leo agreed. "I love all my friends – even Frank and Death Kid. I love my dragonhead, Festus. I love Buford, my table." He could feel Hazel laughing silently. "But you're the only one I love like this."

"I'm content with that," Hazel giggled, craned her neck and kissed his cheek. "I'm perfectly content with that."

* * *

**Look, the neutral song made a happy drabble!**

**Short, but it was meant to be. I hope you liked it! I think I managed to not make Leo too OOC, but it's your opinion that matters, to please tell me! I'm pretty sure that Leo would look at love like this, especially if he was together with Hazel.**

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


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